tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/green-economy-3241/articlesGreen economy – The Conversation2024-02-15T13:43:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230472024-02-15T13:43:44Z2024-02-15T13:43:44ZGhana’s new vehicle tax aims to tackle pollution – expert unpacks how it’ll work and suggests reforms<p><em>Ghana has introduced an <a href="https://gra.gov.gh/implementation-of-new-tax-laws-and-amendments/">annual carbon levy on vehicles and industrial emissions</a>. It’s only the third <a href="https://carbonpricingdashboard.worldbank.org/">African country</a> to introduce an explicit carbon tax, after <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0376835X.2023.2171366">South Africa and Mauritius</a>. The tax is intended to address <a href="https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/budget-statements/2024%20Budget%20Statement_v2.pdf">harm</a> associated with vehicle emissions. But it has prompted a <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Inconsiderate-vehicle-emissions-tax-won-t-prevent-carbon-emission-Ben-Boakye-1914538">pushback</a> from various citizens, civic and consumer groups.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation Africa’s Godfred Akoto Boafo spoke to Theophilus Acheampong, an energy economist who has consulted for Ghana’s finance ministry on environmental fiscal reform, about the impact and implementation of this kind of levy.</em></p>
<h2>Why is the government taxing emissions?</h2>
<p>The proposed vehicle emissions tax under the <a href="https://gra.gov.gh/implementation-of-new-tax-laws-and-amendments/">Emissions Levy Act, 2023</a> is one of several environmental fiscal reform measures being introduced by the government. I am among several consultants who have worked on these proposed reforms since 2010. </p>
<p>Environmental tax reform <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/environmental-tax-reform-increasing-individual">aims</a> to shift the burden of taxation to environmentally damaging activities, such as pollution. </p>
<p>Reforms like this can help raise domestic revenue, protect the environment by meeting country climate targets under the <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/research/environment/paris-climate-agreement-2030-sustainable-development-goals/#:%7E:text=Paris%20Climate%20Agreement%20%26%202030%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals,-Implementing%20the%20Paris&text=The%20goals%20include%20zero%20hunger,lifestyles%20in%20harmony%20with%20nature">Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals</a>, and reduce poverty. These benefits have been confirmed in many <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020501">studies</a> but with mixed results.</p>
<p>Ghana’s government believes the vehicle emissions tax is a more cost-effective and equitable way to make sure the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/polluter-pays-principle">polluter pays</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-principles-policy-statement/environmental-principles-policy-statement#:%7E:text=Description%3A%20The%20prevention%20principle%20means,%5Bfootnote%206%5D%20is%20avoided.">prevent harm</a> and <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/precautionary-principle.html">protect the public</a>. </p>
<p>Ghana’s energy sector is the <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/gh_nir5_15052022_final.pdf">major source</a> (46%) of the country’s greenhouse emissions. Within this, mobile combustion emissions <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/gh_nir5_15052022_final.pdf">accounted</a> for 34% of the total energy emissions and 15% of the total national emissions in 2019. Transportation emissions, predominantly from road transport, have <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/gh_nir5_15052022_final.pdf">increased</a> by 47% compared to 2016 levels due to growing vehicle ownership and the associated traffic congestion in cities and peri-urban areas.</p>
<p>Lower respiratory <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/countries/ghana/default.htm#death">infections</a>, which are linked to air pollution, are among the top five causes of <a href="https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mortality-and-global-health-estimates/ghe-leading-causes-of-death">death</a> in the country. Some <a href="https://www.cleanairfund.org/geography/ghana/">28,000</a> Ghanaians died prematurely from air pollution in 2020. Air pollution-related deaths cost Ghana 0.95% of gross domestic product, according to a <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(22)00090-0/fulltext">2021 Lancet study</a>.</p>
<h2>What has been done so far to reduce air pollution?</h2>
<p>In 2021, the government introduced a sanitation and pollution levy on petrol and diesel under the <a href="https://atugubaassociates.com/file/Energy%20Sector%20Levies%20(Amendment)%20Act.pdf">Energy Sector Levies Act</a> to raise revenue to improve air quality, among other goals. The levy accrued <a href="https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/reports/economic/Final_%202022-Annual-ESLA-Report.pdf">GHS452 million</a> (US$55 million) in 2022. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-wants-fewer-polluting-old-cars-on-the-road-but-its-going-about-it-the-wrong-way-198805">Ghana wants fewer polluting old cars on the road. But it’s going about it the wrong way</a>
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<p>In 2018, the government also <a href="https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/news/Notice-Luxury-Vehicle.pdf">introduced</a> a luxury vehicle tax on vehicles with engine capacities of three litres or more, except for commercial vehicles. However, following a public outcry, the government <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/govt-withdraws-vehicle-luxury-tax.html">suspended</a> the tax in July 2019. There were <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/bring-back-luxury-vehicle-tax-upsa-to-government.html">subsequent calls</a> for it to be reintroduced. </p>
<p>These measures weren’t well designed from a tax policy point of view as they were not tied to actual vehicular emissions. Hence the need for an vehicle emissions tax. </p>
<h2>How should an emissions tax work and how does the new tax work?</h2>
<p>Ghana’s <a href="https://gra.gov.gh/implementation-of-new-tax-laws-and-amendments/">proposed</a> emissions tax is based on internal combustion engine capacities. Charges range from GHS75 (US$6) for motorcycles and tricycles to GHS150 (US$12) for motor vehicles, buses and coaches up to 3 litre engine. A higher threshold of GHS300 (US$24) applies for motor vehicles, buses and coaches above 3 litre engine capacity, and cargo trucks and articulated trucks. </p>
<p>Ideally, the tax should be based on the actual carbon dioxide and other pollutant emissions from a vehicle, measured in grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre. A threshold of tailpipe CO₂ is set. Each car owner would pay an annual tax for the amount of CO₂ their car emits above that threshold.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://caura.com/blog/why-does-an-mot-include-an-exhaust-emissions-test#:%7E:text=An%20exhaust%20emissions%20test%20ensures,a%20visual%20test%20is%20applied">tailpipe emissions test</a> would be done during the annual roadworthiness check by Ghana’s <a href="https://www.dvla.gov.gh/">Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority</a>. It would also collect the amounts and then remit them to the Treasury. </p>
<p>There is scope in Ghana’s case to tie it to actual tailpipe emissions and also revise the upper end of the tax as it is prohibitive. This would make the tax more equitable and better reflect the “polluter pays” principle. </p>
<h2>What are the objections to the tax and can they be accommodated?</h2>
<p>The main objection is that it amounts to double taxation. Critics point to the existing pollution levy. There is also no clear plan for what the tax will be used for after it is collected. </p>
<p>Several critics, especially in the<a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/emissions-levy-premature-antibusiness-food-and-beverage-association.html"> manufacturing</a> and <a href="https://citinewsroom.com/2024/02/emissions-levy-well-increase-our-fares-accordingly-gprtu/">transport sector</a>, say there are already too many taxes. A new one adds to the cost of operating a business. This cost will be passed on to consumers in an already struggling economy. </p>
<p>Some have <a href="https://citinewsroom.com/2024/02/withdraw-emissions-levy-itll-worsen-already-acidic-business-environment-fabag-to-govt/">urged </a>the government to develop environmentally friendly power sources like nuclear and solar energy.</p>
<p>But the government is under pressure to <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-and-the-imf-have-struck-a-deal-but-hard-choices-lie-ahead-206240">raise domestic revenue</a> as part of its International Monetary Fund conditionalities. It is therefore difficult to predict whether it will accommodate the concerns that have been raised.</p>
<h2>How does Ghana’s tax compare with others in Africa?</h2>
<p>Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and Namibia have various environmental taxes covering energy, transport, air pollution and waste. </p>
<p>For example South Africa <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-safrica-carbontax-idUSKCN1SW0K6/">introduced</a> a carbon emissions tax on vehicles in 2010. This was updated in 2019 and 2022. The tax applies when cars have emissions above 120g CO₂ per km as well as 3litre engine capacity. The former is about the typical emission from a Ford Fiesta 1.0T EcoBoost or KiaPicanto 1.0. The rate is adjusted for inflation every year. The tax rate ranges from R132 (US$7; GHS86) to R176(US$9; GHS115) for every gram of carbon dioxide per kilometre above the threshold. A 2018 <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10291954.2018.1505265">study</a> indicated that South Africa’s CO₂ emissions tax had failed to influence which new cars consumers were buying. This is understandable given <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15473">low income levels</a> and that <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=14063">35% of households</a> used public transport, according to the 2020 National Household Travel Survey.</p>
<p>Ghana’s proposed emissions tax for vehicles up to 3 litre engine capacity is not unreasonable when benchmarked to South Africa’s. </p>
<p>However, the tax for engines above 3 litres is steep. It targets the main means of transport for many citizens. The 2012 Ghana National Transport Household Survey showed that <a href="https://www2.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/publications/Second%20National%20Household%20Transport%20Survey%20Report%202012.pdf">90%</a> of commuters used shared public transport (known locally as “tro-tro”); this figure may have declined in recent times. </p>
<h2>Can the tax be implemented and will it meet its objectives?</h2>
<p>Ghana is already implementing several environment tax reforms across different sectors, with varying degrees of success. There is the potential to harmonise these instruments to improve environmental outcomes and behavioural incentives. </p>
<p>The existing sanitation and pollution levy must first be scrapped and replaced with the vehicle emissions tax. This should be based on actual carbon dioxide, nitric oxide and other tailpipe emissions to maximise efficiency. The tax bands should conform to emission standards set by the <a href="https://www.gsa.gov.gh/">Ghana Standards Authority</a> and the vehicle licensing authority. </p>
<p>Having both the sanitation and pollution levy and vehicle emissions tax operating at the same time amounts to double taxation. </p>
<p>Ghana must also agree to earmark and allocate an agreed proportion of the proceeds to address environmental issues. </p>
<h2>What is the tax collection picture in Ghana?</h2>
<p>Ghana tax collection is currently <a href="https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/revenue-statistics-africa-ghana.pdf">around</a> 14% of GDP. Its aim is to get to 18% by 2028, comparable with its <a href="https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/brochure-revenue-statistics-africa.pdf">peers</a> such as Senegal, Namibia, Togo and Rwanda. Other revenue generation avenues have been met with stiff resistance. A recent value added tax on electricity has just been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68236869?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=68236869%26Ghana%20suspends%20controversial%20power%20tax%20after%20uproar%262024-02-08T17%3A42%3A01.000Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:bbc:cps:curie:asset:af7380e7-a5ab-4afb-9364-57740148921b&pinned_post_asset_id=68236869&pinned_post_type=share">suspended</a>. </p>
<p>In 2024, Ghana plans to improve revenue performance through <a href="https://mofep.gov.gh/sites/default/files/budget-statements/2024%20Budget%20Statement_v2.pdf">extending</a> the electronic VAT system to cover 600 large taxpayers and more than 2,000 small and medium-sized taxpayers, as well as taxing industrial and vehicle emissions, among others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Theophilus Acheampong is affiliated with the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education in Accra, Ghana. He has also consulted for the Government of Ghana on environmental fiscal reform in a private capacity. </span></em></p>Critics have described Ghana’s emissions tax as premature.Theophilus Acheampong, Associate Lecturer, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2176362023-11-29T13:51:15Z2023-11-29T13:51:15ZLow emissions and economic survival – countries in the global south aren’t getting a fair deal<p><em>In 2015, more than 140 countries <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition">signed up</a> to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. For countries in the global south this is a huge task. On the one hand they have committed to low emissions. On the other their economic survival depends on using resources that produce high emissions. International economic law scholar Olabisi D. Akinkugbe unpacks the issue of climate justice, and how climate laws and foreign investment laws fit into the picture.</em></p>
<h2>What is climate justice and why is achieving it such a challenge?</h2>
<p>Climate change policies are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (which mainly come from the use of fossil fuels) and shift socio-economic activities towards the use of renewable energies. But, unless these changes are made in a manner that considers historical responsibility for the economic imbalances between countries, they risk crippling the economies of the global south.</p>
<p>That’s why institutions such as the United Nations Development Programme have called for <a href="https://climatepromise.undp.org/news-and-stories/climate-change-matter-justice-heres-why">climate justice</a>, which means:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>putting equity and human rights at the core of decision making and action on climate change. The concept has been widely used to refer to the unequal historical responsibility that countries and communities bear in relation to the climate crisis. </p>
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<p>A climate justice approach to climate change would consider that developing countries did not <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/media/who-caused-climate-change-historically">contribute</a> to climate change as much as developed countries but bear a <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/climate-crisis-poor-davos2023/">disproportionate burden</a> of the impact of climate change.</p>
<p>Yet, as we detail <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2854&context=ilj">in a recent paper</a>, a combination of legal frameworks for climate change and foreign direct investment is making the situation worse for developing countries. These laws inform the debate on climate change.</p>
<h2>What are the laws? How are they flawed?</h2>
<p>International climate change law is a layered and complex set of principles, rules, regulations and institutions. </p>
<p>The United Nations climate change regime is at the centre of the international action to address climate change. It does this by addressing <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ar4-wg2-chapter18-1.pdf">mitigation and adaptation</a> challenges. The regime includes the <a href="https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/conveng.pdf">1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change</a> and the <a href="https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/english_paris_agreement.pdf">2015 Paris Agreement</a>. It also includes the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> (IPCC), and decisions of bodies like the Conference of Parties to the Convention (“COP”) and the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.</p>
<p>The relationship between climate goals and international investment and trade has attracted more attention from <a href="https://www.oecd.org/investment/investment-policy/OECD-investment-treaties-climate-change-consultation-responses.pdf">scholars</a> since the 2022 <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FullReport.pdf">report</a> of the Working Group III of the IPCC highlighted the <a href="https://www.veblen-institute.org/IPCC-points-out-the-incompatibility-between-protecting-fossil-investments-and.html">incompatibility</a> of climate goals and trade and investment regimes. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a> is the primary point of intersection between investment law and climate law. Among other goals, the agreement aspires to make finance flows consistent with low emissions pathways and climate resilient development.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2854&context=ilj">study</a> I argue that investment law and climate change law are at odds with the quest for climate justice. There are at least four reasons:</p>
<p>First, calls for ambitious and expedited transition to climate-friendly investments leave developing countries at a disadvantage in attracting new investments. Mobilising climate finance for a clean energy transition is expensive. As the finance is also primarily in the form of loans, it deepens the <a href="https://www.afronomicslaw.org/sites/default/files/pdf/A%20Brief%20on%20Debt%20and%20Climate%20Vulnerable%20Countries%20in%20Africa.pdf">debt vulnerability</a> of developing countries.</p>
<p>Second, treaty-based solutions don’t adequately address the power imbalance in the investor-host state relationship. Investment treaties protect investors more than host states. Also, the investor-state dispute system has more consequences for developing countries. And there is <a href="https://www.iisd.org/itn/en/2013/03/22/remedies-in-investor-state-arbitration-a-public-interest-perspective/">disregard</a> for public interest concerns in the award of damages to investors.</p>
<p>Third, embracing market-based solutions led by transnational corporations may reinforce climate injustice while barely reducing emissions. The profit-oriented nature of the investment approach exacerbates the existing <a href="https://debtjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Debt-and-the-Climate-Crisis-Briefing-October-2022-UPDATED.pdf">debt challenges</a> of developing countries.</p>
<p>Fourth, the risks of investor-state disputes, heavy damages and compensation are generally skewed against developing countries. This affects their capacity to take climate action. </p>
<p>Legal instruments protect foreign investors. The legal protection of foreign direct investment under public international law is guaranteed by international investment agreements and bilateral investment treaties. In addition, multilateral investment treaties, such as the <a href="https://www.energycharter.org/process/energy-charter-treaty-1994/energy-charter-treaty/">Energy Charter Treaty</a>, and some free trade agreements also protect direct investment. </p>
<p>An investor can sue a host state for violations of treaties or investment agreements and get damages. Developing countries have been on the receiving end of punitive damages. This has led to calls for <a href="https://www.afronomicslaw.org/2020/09/07/symposium-introduction-centering-voices-from-the-global-south-on-investor-state-dispute-settlement-reform-a-debate/">reform</a> of the arbitration regime that applies to investors and states. </p>
<h2>What should be done?</h2>
<p>The design of the global transition from fossil fuels to net-zero emissions must account for the economic differences between countries and allow for multiple pathways. This is particularly true for developing countries that must reorganise their economies to attract investments that reduce emissions and generate socioeconomic development, while addressing their debt exposures. </p>
<p>The misalignment of climate change law and international investment law deepens this challenge. This is because many African states depend on the extractive industry to sustain their economies. In addition, the global transition to renewable energy has wider ramifications to produce batteries, electric vehicles, and other renewable energy systems. All require mineral resources from the global south. </p>
<p>Green or climate-friendly investment places global south countries in an unequal position on the international energy chart.</p>
<p>Developing countries, therefore, face the dilemma of balancing fossil fuel extraction with climate-friendly investments. Increased demands for electric vehicles and renewable energy present opportunities for developing states. But many lack the capacity to capture parts of the supply chains of the new green economy. </p>
<p>The transition to net-zero emissions thus poses <a href="https://www.afronomicslaw.org/category/african-sovereign-debt-justice-network-afsdjn/statement-african-sovereign-debt-justice">several problems</a>: climate crisis, extreme poverty, and lack of access to energy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olabisi D. Akinkugbe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Climate and investment laws must align for the global south to get climate justice and achieve net-zero emissions.Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Associate Professor & Viscount Bennett Professor of Law, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171362023-11-09T17:25:55Z2023-11-09T17:25:55ZSunak’s climate shift is out of touch with the demands of the UK’s workforce – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558604/original/file-20231109-17-il96tv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=756%2C42%2C4850%2C3690&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">UK workers have a high degree of concern about the climate crisis.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/engineer-team-full-skill-quality-maintenance-2111911970">MNBB Studio/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to introduce a bill aimed at granting new oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea. The proposal was outlined in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-kings-speech-2023">2023 king’s speech</a> to parliament, where he set out the government’s priorities ahead of the next general election. </p>
<p>This development comes less than two months after Sunak made a series of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/23/observer-view-rishi-sunaks-cynical-backtracking-on-climate-will-be-to-no-electoral-avail">controversial</a> announcements setting out the government’s revised strategy for achieving net zero emissions – a move that many argue has diluted its commitment to the UK’s climate objectives. </p>
<p>Sunak has <a href="https://x.com/10DowningStreet/status/1721524335926517937?s=20">justified</a> his watered-down climate policy by saying it will protect British jobs in the oil and gas industry and make the UK more energy independent. However, the reaction from experts, the public and businesses suggests that this is a retrograde step.</p>
<p>The Climate Change Committee – the government’s independent advisors – had <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/2023-progress-report-to-parliament/">previously stated</a> that the government was not doing enough to tackle climate change and would <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/ccc-uk-will-miss-climate-goals-by-huge-margin-without-new-policies/">fall short</a> of its climate targets. The government’s recent announcements will only <a href="https://www.theccc.org.uk/2023/10/12/ccc-assessment-of-recent-announcements-and-developments-on-net-zero/">further constrain</a> UK prospects for achieving those climate goals.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/nathansbennett/status/1721512464422961392?s=46">Recent polling</a> also suggests that swing voters now view the Conservatives less favourably because of their focus on oil and gas. But what about the wider working public? Our <a href="https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/315/uk-workers-and-the-low-carbon-transition">own research</a>, published in August 2023, suggests that many workers in the UK see the government’s backtrack on climate policy as a huge disappointment too.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking on Downing Street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558603/original/file-20231109-25-gfnz6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The UK government’s focus on fossil fuels risks alienating the workforce.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-downing-street-uk-25th-october-2253948447">Sean Aidan Calderbank/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taking leadership</h2>
<p>We surveyed 2,001 UK workers across all sectors and age groups to gauge their “readiness” for working in a decarbonised economy and to understand their expectations regarding a fair and just transition. </p>
<p>Our findings are unambiguous: nearly eight out of ten UK workers expressed that they were either very or fairly concerned about climate change. Every second UK worker believes that the UK is already witnessing the effects of climate change and urgently requires climate action.</p>
<p>At the time of the survey, carried out in April 2022, workers maintained a sense of hope that the climate crisis could be addressed. But they emphasised the need for action. </p>
<p>Most workers expect the government to show leadership and act, with 63% identifying the government as having the greatest responsibility for addressing climate change. Slightly less than half (46%) of workers ranked businesses highly too.</p>
<p>Many workers are active on environmental and climate issues. For example, 59% stated that they are trying to reduce their carbon footprint at home. However, very few believe that the primary responsibility for climate action lies with individuals. </p>
<p>The workers we surveyed urged the government to finance the projects that are necessary to decarbonise the economy, as this chart shows:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing workers' support for green policy ideas." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558419/original/file-20231108-17-1gyyzy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers want the government to finance the projects that are necessary to decarbonise the economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cutter et al. (2023)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Workers have high expectations for the positive changes that will result from investments in the green economy. Seven in ten workers expect cleaner air and enhanced soil and water quality. Six in ten workers feel that increased health and wellbeing would accompany this transition. </p>
<p>They did, however, also express concerns over potential increases in the cost of living, the possibility for heightened inequalities, or a reduction in living standards.</p>
<h2>Finding green jobs</h2>
<p>More than one-third (42%) of the workers we surveyed said they were interested in working in the green economy. Most of these workers said they would consider switching to a green job because they find the prospect of working in the green economy both interesting and meaningful. A significant number (40%) are strongly motivated by the opportunity to contribute to reducing the harmful effects of climate change.</p>
<p>Workers exhibit the greatest interest in working in sectors such as environmental protection or restoration, renewable energy, recycling and the waste industry. Encouragingly, workers in higher carbon-emitting sectors display higher confidence that their skills are suited for employment in the green economy. </p>
<p>However, a range of obstacles are causing workers to hesitate over making the switch. The prospect of lower pay, the time needed to retrain, and the cost of retraining are all seen as significant barriers for workers considering a move into green jobs.</p>
<p><a href="https://neweconomics.org/2023/02/skills-for-a-new-economy">Research</a> by the <a href="https://neweconomics.org/">New Economics Foundation</a> – a British thinktank that promotes social, economic and environmental justice – suggests the average worker is currently qualified at a level below that needed to access many green jobs. The foundation estimates that workers need between six and 18 months of additional training, on average, to access green jobs. </p>
<p>Our findings reveal that workers expect the government to show leadership and offer policies that will help them make the switch, with a particular emphasis on the creation of jobs in their current location or region:</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing workers responses to questions about just transition to a greener economy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558421/original/file-20231108-25-ue1fnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers are keen to switch to jobs in the green economy, but there are several obstacles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cutter et al. (2023)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many workers are willing to retrain and switch to doing a green job. Some say they already possess a good skills base for employment in the green economy, and are willing to spend more time on training. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the prime minister’s U-turn on climate policy indicates that workers’ aspirations for a just transition to a greener economy are not being met. The government should not let down these workers but rather capitalise on the enthusiasm of a workforce eager to be part of delivering net zero. The UK needs a government that is responsive to workers.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vera Trappmann receives funding from Research England and Hans-Böckler Foundation. The study upon which this article is based was done in collaboration with Dr. Felix Schulz and Dr. Ursula Balderson, both colleagues at the Centre for Employment Relations Innovation and Change (CERIC), Leeds University Business School.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Cutter receives funding from Reseach England</span></em></p>Our survey of UK workers reveals their deep concern about climate change – many want to see action being taken.Vera Trappmann, Professor in Comparative Employment Relations, University of LeedsJo Cutter, Lecturer in Work and Employment Relations, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134342023-09-20T14:56:43Z2023-09-20T14:56:43ZIdea of green growth losing traction among climate policy researchers, survey of nearly 800 academics reveals<p>When she took to the floor to give her <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/ov/speech_23_4426">State of the Union speech</a> on 13 September, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen largely stood by the script. Describing her vision of an economically buoyant and sustainable Europe in the era of climate change, she called on the EU to accelerate the development of the clean-tech sector, “from wind to steel, from batteries to electric vehicles”. “When it comes to the European Green Deal, we stick to our growth strategy,” von der Leyen said.</p>
<p>Her plans were hardly idiosyncratic. The notion of green growth – the idea that environmental goals can be aligned with continued economic growth – is still the common economic orthodoxy for major institutions like the <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/978-0-8213-9551-6">World Bank</a> and the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/48012345.pdf">Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development</a> (OECD).</p>
<p>The OECD has promised to “strengthen their efforts to pursue green growth strategies […], acknowledging that green and growth can go hand-in-hand”, while the World Bank has called for “inclusive green growth” where “greening growth is necessary, efficient, and affordable”. Meanwhile, the EU has framed <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/reflecting-on-green-growth">green growth</a> as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“a basis to sustain employment levels and secure the resources needed to increase public welfare […] transforming production and consumption in ways that reconcile increasing GDP with environmental limits”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, our survey of nearly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01198-2">800 climate policy researchers from around the world</a> reveals widespread scepticism toward the concept in high-income countries, amid mounting literature arguing that the principle may neither be viable nor desirable. Instead, alternative post-growth paradigms including “degrowth” and “agrowth” are gaining traction.</p>
<h2>Differentiating green growth from agrowth and degrowth</h2>
<p>But what do these terms signify?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800910005021">“degrowth”</a> school of thought proposes a planned reduction in material consumption in affluent nations to achieve more sustainable and equitable societies. Meanwhile, supporters of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800910004209">“agrowth”</a> adopt a neutral view of economic growth, focusing on achieving sustainability irrespective of GDP fluctuations. Essentially, both positions represent scepticism toward the predominant “green growth” paradigm with degrowth representing a more critical view.</p>
<p>Much of the debate centres around the concept of <em>decoupling</em> – whether the economy can grow without corresponding increases in environmental degradation or greenhouse gas emissions. Essentially, it signifies a separation of the historical linkage between GDP growth and its adverse environmental effects. Importantly, <em>absolute</em> decoupling rather than <em>relative</em> decoupling is necessary for green growth to succeed. In other words, emissions should decrease during economic growth, and not just grow more slowly.</p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/oxrep/article-abstract/30/3/407/552020?login=false">Green growth proponents</a> assert that absolute decoupling is achievable in the long term, although there is a division regarding whether there will be a short-term hit to economic growth. The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13563467.2019.1598964">degrowth perspective</a> is critical that absolute decoupling is feasible at the global scale and can be achieved at the rapid rate required to stay within Paris climate targets. A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00174-2/fulltext">recent study</a> found that current rates of decoupling in high-income are falling far short of what is needed to limit global heating to well below 2°C as set out by the Paris Agreement.</p>
<p>The agrowth position covers more mixed, middle-ground views on the decoupling debate. <a href="https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nyas.14900">Some argue</a> that decoupling is potentially plausible under the right policies, however, the focus should be on policies rather than targets as this is confusing means and ends. Others may argue that the debate is largely irrelevant as GDP is a poor indicator of societal progress – a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167487008001141">“GDP paradox”</a> exists, where the indicator continues to be dominant in economics and politics despite its widely recognised failings.</p>
<h2>7 out of 10 climate experts sceptical of green growth</h2>
<p>How prevalent are degrowth and agrowth views among experts? As part of a recent survey completed by 789 global researchers who have published on climate change mitigation policies, <a href="https://rdcu.be/diKl4">we asked questions to assess the respondents’ positions on the growth debate</a>. Strikingly, 73% of all respondents expressed views aligned with “agrowth” or “degrowth” positions, with the former being the most popular. We found that the opinions varied based on the respondent’s country and discipline (see the figure below).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="green growth, degrowth and agrowth split according to scientific discipline" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549105/original/file-20230919-21-12sur0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The chart shows the school of thought espoused by 789 global researchers, according to geographical origin and scientific discipline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Fourni par l'auteur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the OECD itself strongly advocates for green growth, researchers from the EU and other OECD nations demonstrated high levels of scepticism. In contrast, over half of the researchers from non-OECD nations, especially in emerging economies like the BRICS nations, were more supportive of green growth.</p>
<h2>Disciplinary rifts</h2>
<p>Furthermore, a disciplinary divide exists. Environmental and other social scientists, excluding orthodox economists, were the most sceptical of green growth. In contrast, economists and engineers showed the highest preference for green growth, possibly indicative of trust in technological progress and conventional economic models that suggest economic growth and climate goals are compatible.</p>
<p>Our analysis also examined the link between the growth positions and the GDP per capita of a respondent’s country of origin. A discernible trend emerged: as national income rises, there is increased scepticism toward green growth. At higher income levels, experts increasingly supported the post-growth argument that beyond a point, the socio-environmental costs of growth may outweigh the benefits.</p>
<p>The results were even more pronounced when we factored in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI), suggesting that aspects beyond income, such as inequality and overall development, might influence these views.</p>
<p>In a world grappling with climate change and socio-economic disparities, these findings should not simply be dismissed. They underline the need for a more holistic dialogue on sustainable development, extending beyond the conventional green growth paradigm.</p>
<h2>Post-growth thought no longer a fringe position</h2>
<p>Although von der Leyen firmly stood in the green growth camp, this academic shift is increasingly reflected in the political debate. In May 2023, the European Parliament hosted a conference on the topic of <a href="https://www.beyond-growth-2023.eu/">“Beyond Growth”</a> as an initiative of 20 MEPs from five different political groups and supported by over 50 partner organisations. Its main objective was to discuss policy proposals to move beyond the approach of national GDP growth being the primary measure of success.</p>
<p>Six national and regional governments – Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, Finland, and Canada – have joined the <a href="https://weall.org/wego">Wellbeing Economy Governments</a> (WEGo) partnership. The primary aim of the movement is to transition to “an economy designed to serve people and planet, not the other way around.”</p>
<p>Clearly, post-growth thought is no longer a fringe, radical position within those working on solutions to climate change. Greater attention needs to be given to why some experts are doubtful that green growth can be achieved as well as potential alternatives focussed on wider concepts of societal wellbeing rather than limited thinking in terms of GDP growth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work contributes to the ‘María de Maeztu’ Programme for Units of Excellence of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CEX2019-000940-M). I.S. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101056891, ClimAte Policy AcceptaBiLity Economic (CAPABLE) framework. I.S. and S.D. further acknowledge support from an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement number 741087).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lewis King ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>According to a survey of almost 800 climate researchers, 73% are sceptical of the idea of green growth. Instead, approaches such as agrowth and degrowth are gaining ground.Ivan Savin, Associate professor of business analytics, research fellow at ICTA-UAB, ESCP Business SchoolLewis King, Postdoctoral research fellow in Ecological economics, Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1997152023-02-21T18:11:56Z2023-02-21T18:11:56ZEU poised to copy US subsidies for green technology – new evidence from China shows how it could backfire<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511174/original/file-20230220-18-uo54av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There's a reason why the west has long avoided state aid. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/wind-turbine">Shaun Dakin/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The EU <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9bfe7e7e-83b7-47f2-8d59-e180215d534a">is preparing</a> to abandon its longstanding restrictions on state aid to take on US and Chinese subsidies over green technologies. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is spearheading a new commitment from EU leaders to “act decisively to ensure its long-term competitiveness, prosperity and role on the global stage”.</p>
<p>She has talked about the need to counter hidden subsidies from the Chinese, both in green tech and in other sectors, though <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/02/bidens-ira-has-left-europe-blind-sided-and-playing-catchup-could-lead-to-2-big-mistakes.html">the trigger</a> for the EU’s new approach is really President Joe Biden’s <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/our-insights/the-inflation-reduction-act-heres-whats-in-it">Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)</a>. This has committed the US to a record US$369 billion (£305 billion) to green its economy, including using tax breaks and subsidies. </p>
<p>It effectively tears up the international consensus around not using state aid, embracing what the US has railed against for years. <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/01/12/the-destructive-new-logic-that-threatens-globalisation">The Economist</a> has said that globalisation is no longer about racing, but racing and tripping others. </p>
<p>The EU is now proposing to introduce its own tax credits and subsidies for cleantech companies, as well as fast-tracking regulation in this area. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the UK has been <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-calls-out-biden-over-electric-vehicle-subsidies/">coming under pressure</a> from the likes of car manufacturers to respond. So far, it has been trying to find exemptions to the US’s general approach of only offering incentives to products made in America, while <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-27/uk-sees-no-need-for-subsidies-in-us-eu-green-technology-battle?leadSource=uverify%20wall">also claiming</a> the UK has no need to subsidise these kinds of areas because it is already ahead. </p>
<p>The economics of this drift to protectionism are worrying. Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/caje.12644">recent research</a> on the effects of state subsidies in China suggest that such policies could do the US and EU economies more harm than good overall. </p>
<h2>What the research says</h2>
<p>Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, states have played <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/bringing-the-state-back-in/629F1D194C7E4FC19CF5208F345D6AD8">a significant role</a> in developing their economies. <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/04/how-chinese-subsidies-changed">China is</a> the recent prime example, where the use of subsidies to develop particular industries such as electric cars or solar panels has been highly visible. </p>
<p><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/govt-to-offer-up-to-50-of-project-cost-to-cos-setting-up-chip-plant/articleshow/88463324.cms">India seems</a> to be <a href="https://www.indiaglobalbusiness.com/igb-archive/5-ways-india-can-attract-companies-moving-out-of-china">moving</a> in the same direction. The government is paying half of the cost of making computer chips, among a variety of incentives to <a href="https://www.economist.com/briefing/2023/01/12/globalisation-already-slowing-is-suffering-a-new-assault">encourage investment</a> in different sectors. </p>
<p>Equally, in the developed world, government procurement has driven many <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/innovation-technological-and-market-risk-key-role-of-the-state-by-william-h-janeway-2023-01?utm_source=Project+Syndicate+Newsletter&utm_campaign=63657e1de4-op_newsletter_01_20_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73bad5b7d8-63657e1de4-105526401&mc_cid=63657e1de4&mc_eid=b4a93ff839">world-changing innovations</a>. Whole sectors such as <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/innovation-technological-and-market-risk-key-role-of-the-state-by-william-h-janeway-2023-01?utm_source=Project+Syndicate+Newsletter&utm_campaign=63657e1de4-op_newsletter_01_20_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_73bad5b7d8-63657e1de4-105526401&mc_cid=63657e1de4&mc_eid=b4a93ff839">biotech and information technology</a> relied on government procurement to get started. America’s Silicon Valley <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8c0152d2-d0f2-11e2-be7b-00144feab7de">originally grew</a> on the back of military contracts, for instance. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-6419.00079?casa_token=aq2hewEcQeMAAAAA:o-YjKMyBz7cDoPYcAzdqiDPL10ETLkEgkIHFyNlAXuSxjoRqDksex6BMl9uN02Z-Snbj0jxupLCzYtVX">Research</a> in this area does acknowledge a case for subsidising infant industries in which a country wants to specialise. China’s state subsidies in the steel and solar panel industries would be a good example. </p>
<p>Yet there is a price to be paid: the money a government spends means that less will be available for helping its citizens in other ways. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-6419.00079?casa_token=aq2hewEcQeMAAAAA:o-YjKMyBz7cDoPYcAzdqiDPL10ETLkEgkIHFyNlAXuSxjoRqDksex6BMl9uN02Z-Snbj0jxupLCzYtVX">For example</a> Brazil’s wheat-industry subsidies in the 1980s were estimated to have produced a net loss of 15% to welfare spending. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-6419.00079?casa_token=aq2hewEcQeMAAAAA:o-YjKMyBz7cDoPYcAzdqiDPL10ETLkEgkIHFyNlAXuSxjoRqDksex6BMl9uN02Z-Snbj0jxupLCzYtVX">Around the same time</a>, it was estimated that if the EU removed the common agricultural policy, the extra money available for government spending could increase real incomes by between 0.3% and 3.5% as a proportion of GDP. Findings like these probably explain why the World Trade Organization has discouraged state aid for decades. </p>
<h2>Consequences</h2>
<p>The new green subsidies will create winners and losers at different levels. Within the EU, for example, it will un-level the playing field between member states. Those that can afford to spend more on their green tech industries will potentially crowd out those with less. </p>
<p>Even within a country, there’s unlikely to be a win-win. Our research team has <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/caje.12644">recently published</a> a paper about China’s subsidies, using a new approach that makes it possible to estimate the direct and indirect effects on subsidised and non-subsidised firms at the same time. </p>
<p>This is the first time anyone has looked at subsidies in this way. Our project looked at 1998-2007, since those were the years where the necessary data was available. </p>
<p>We found that subsidised firms become relatively more productive, thus making them more competitive. Yet firms that are not subsidised can see their productivity growth reduced. </p>
<p>The determining factor is whether they operate in a geographical cluster alongside subsidised firms. When more than a quarter of firms in a cluster in China were being subsidised, the remainder suffered. </p>
<p>Those losing out were typically foreign-owned firms and those owned by the Chinese state, while private Chinese firms were the beneficiaries. </p>
<p>When we aggregated all the data, it showed that this negative indirect effect tends to dominate. In other words, subsidies produce unintended losers and make the market less competitive and more inefficient as a whole. </p>
<p>The bottom line is, subsidies are not without problems, even for China. In the last decade we have seen what “losers” can do to an economy, or a society - think of movements towards populism and autocracy in many places. </p>
<p>Therefore, there needs to be a more thorough debate about the benefits and costs of subsidies before states apply them, and some carefully designed policies to prepare for the potential losers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just because the US is tearing up the international consensus against state aid doesn’t meant the likes of the EU and UK should follow suit.Jun Du, Professor of Economics, Centre Director of Centre for Business Prosperity (CBP), Aston UniversityHolger Görg, Acting President, Kiel Institute for the World EconomyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1864912022-07-25T10:36:29Z2022-07-25T10:36:29ZIndustrial policy options for southern Africa: scenarios set out possibilities and risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474912/original/file-20220719-6817-g7hej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coal operations at one of South Africa's coal-fired power plants. Industrial policy needs to envisage less reliance on carbon.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Phill Magakoe /AFP via Getty Images)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a need to transform the underlying economic principles of the economies in southern African countries to address the persistent challenges of severe poverty and unemployment. </p>
<p>Two of the region’s strategies are the Southern African Development Community’s <a href="https://www.sadc.int/document/sadc-vision-2050">Vision 2050</a> and its <a href="https://www.sadc.int/pages/regional-indicative-strategic-development-plan-risdp">Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan</a>. These highlight technology as a way to lead economic growth equitably and sustainably in a growing industrialised region.</p>
<p>But, in our view, these plans aren’t enough. Historical drivers – such as poor governance and the legacies of colonialism – have kept the region’s potential locked in negative cycles. It’s true that the desire for industrial transformation exists. But the practicalities are not connected with real buy-in from power brokers. The result is low levels of implementation. </p>
<p>The Southern African Development Community has set itself the goal of emulating the high-growth economies of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Asian_Tigers">Asian Tigers</a>. These include Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. But to achieve this it needs to support infrastructure and economic diversification that takes economies away from primary commodities. </p>
<p>In our view, the co-incidence of two developments provides an opportunity for such a transformation. They are the emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the green economy. The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents the possibility of fundamental change through technological and scientific advances. The green economy can be described as a low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive approach to economic development.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://saiia.org.za/research/sadc-industrialisation-futures-towards-economic-wellbeing/">study</a> by the <a href="https://saiia.org.za/programme/futures/">Futures Programme</a> at the South African Institute of International Affairs highlights a range of future scenarios for industrialisation in the region. These don’t predict the future. Rather they explore a range of uncertainties about regional industrialisation. They also identify challenges and opportunities.</p>
<p>The scenarios visualise how industrialisation in the region might evolve. They were mapped from the viewpoint that the green economy and Fourth Industrial Revolution hold significant promise. They have the potential to boost industrial activity, transform socio-economic development and advance transitions while alleviating unemployment and inequality.</p>
<p>The scenario analysis provides plausible and possible alternatives for industrialisation. It also alerts decision makers to undesired pathways. </p>
<p>The main four scenarios are called Do-it-Yourself (DIY), Leapfrog World, Green Monopolies and Colonialism Reloaded.</p>
<h2>Re-thinking industrialisation</h2>
<p>The Fourth Industrial Revolution paves the way for increased interconnectivity and smart automation. It does this by creating rapid and unprecedented changes to technology, industries and societal patterns. But there’s been little exploration of its impact on the emerging drivers of industrialisation. These include rapid urbanisation, population growth, rising incomes, energy decentralisation, climate change and reducing dependence on carbon.</p>
<p>The interplay of the 4IR and other drivers is key to understanding the potential impact of industrialisation. Changes to income, behaviour and perceptions shape consumption and in turn demand-and-supply responses. </p>
<p>The demand for reducing industry’s dependence on carbon and the 4IR has set a new trajectory in technological disruption. This has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. And this, in turn, has forced the rapid adoption of digital tools such as artificial intelligence, robotics and new modes of work.</p>
<p>For countries in the Southern African Development Community, 4IR can be viewed as a double-edged sword. On the one hand it presents opportunities. These include improvements in business productivity, banking the unbanked, formalising economies, creating new markets and improving public service access.</p>
<p>On the other hand it poses risks. These include automation at the expense of job creation and moving manufacturing operations to more advanced economies. </p>
<p>Aggressive adoption of 4IR could also deepen inequality by exposing the region’s unprepared skills base and outdated infrastructure to new technologies.</p>
<h2>The desirable and undesirable</h2>
<p>We called one of the desirable scenarios <strong>leapfrog world</strong>. In this scenario countries leapfrog over classical barriers to rapidly adopt new technologies. This is achieved when the 4IR is governed through effective democratic principles. </p>
<p>Some examples include investments in blockchain, waste tracking and mapping technologies. These would help reorganise, for example, mining and agricultural value chains. At the same time they would reduce negative effects on the environment. Blockchain can reduce barriers to entry. New competitors could come in – crucial for job creation.</p>
<p>A possible (undesirable) future would be <strong>colonialism reloaded</strong>.</p>
<p>In this scenario the benefits of the 4IR are concentrated among a few well-connected multinational companies. Many industry participants are excluded from the green economy. This would reinforce current challenges such as poor technology infrastructure and low skills levels.</p>
<p>To avoid this, investments in the skills base are necesssary to improve social and civic competencies. They must accompany investments in technology infrastructure to increase access to economic opportunities. This will turn the tide on the ever-increasing digital divide.</p>
<p>Another – quite probable – undesirable future we termed <strong>green monopolies</strong>.</p>
<p>In this scenario there is a sustainable regional economy, thanks to a democratised and empowering 4IR. But the associated industries remain unsustainable. The “green monopolised” industries dominate the economy. They use technology innovations to enhance their economic positions, spreading deep fakes at an unimaginable scale. This results in polarised communities, social unrest and unfavourable economic conditions. </p>
<p>Advancements in technology are in the hands of a few powerful monopolies without effective regulatory practices. This creates the ideal breeding ground for hacking, cybercrimes and corporate bullying tactics. Inequality deepens because profit is more important than people and the environment.</p>
<p>A green monopolies scenario will have the resources and political power to invest in technologies such as advanced robotics. This will create efficiencies and environmentally sustainable industries. But it will be at the expense of job creation. </p>
<p>Another probable future is the <strong>do-it-yourself (DIY)</strong> scenario.</p>
<p>This is achieved when technology empowers citizens. An example is 3D printing. These kinds of technologies can help create self-sustaining villages independent of the larger economies. The democratised process provides the tools to create new products, leading to new industries. But there are risks. These technologies also open the potential for counterfeit goods. And they can be harmful by emitting toxic particles.</p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Industrialisation in southern Africa will demand concerted efforts in four domains. These are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>skills development and technology infrastructure development</p></li>
<li><p>dynamic innovation ecosystems</p></li>
<li><p>circular economy principles</p></li>
<li><p>practical regulatory frameworks.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If properly harnessed, industrialisation can provide new pathways to achieve personal and collective economic wellbeing. Inequality can be narrowed. And marginalised communities can be at the centre of industrial development.</p>
<p>The fusion of technology and investment into skills development and job creation is critical. This is particularly important for the region’s budding youth population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Julius Gatune and SAIIA gratefully acknowledge the support and funding received from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for this
publication” </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deon Cloete and SAIIA gratefully acknowledge the support and funding received from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for this
publication.</span></em></p>The scenarios provide plausible and possible alternatives for futures of industrialisation. They also alert decision makers to desired and undesired development pathways.Julius Gatune, Senior Project Consultant, Maastricht School of ManagementDeon Cloete, Head SAIIA Futures Programme, South African Institute of International AffairsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1850852022-06-19T12:51:09Z2022-06-19T12:51:09ZThe Amazon rainforest is disappearing quickly — and threatening Indigenous people who live there<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468841/original/file-20220614-12-40vasd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C23%2C3970%2C2670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A child from the Mayuruna ethnic group stands on a pier on the banks of the Atalaia do Norte River in Amazonas state, Brazil, on June 12, 2022. Federal police and military forces are searching and investigating the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous affairs expert Bruno Araujo Pereira. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Edmar Barros)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Forests throughout the world are shrinking year after year — and Brazil is the epicentre. According to the <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/what-animals-live-in-the-amazon-and-8-other-amazon-facts">World Wildlife Fund</a>, more than a quarter of the Amazon rainforest will be devoid of trees by 2030 if <a href="https://time.com/amazon-rainforest-disappearing/">cutting continues at the same speed</a>.</p>
<p>If nothing is done to stop it, an estimated <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-12/WWF%20briefing%20-%20Westminster%20Hall%20debate%20on%20Amazon%20deforestation%205%20January%202022.pdf">40 per cent of this unique forest</a> will be razed by 2050.</p>
<p>Beyond the material and environmental consequences, this deforestation also <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/COP21.pdf">threatens human rights</a>, including the rights of marginalized communities to life, physical integrity, a reasonable quality of life and dignity. Brazil is one of the most worrying cases in this regard.</p>
<p>As a PhD student in political science, my research interests include climate justice, the energy transition, the green economy and international environmental politics.</p>
<h2>Chainsaw massacre</h2>
<p>Article 25 of the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf">United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> rules that these communities fully possess “the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual relationship with their traditionally owned or otherwise occupied and used lands, territories, waters and coastal seas and other resources.”</p>
<p>This article is not being respected by the Brazilian government in the Amazon.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C1%2C985%2C745&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial drone view of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Trees illegally cut and burned to open up land for agriculture and livestock in the Jamanxim National Forest, Para, Brazil" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C1%2C985%2C745&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468265/original/file-20220610-28106-bfsenj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has contributed to the acceleration of deforestation in the Amazon, threatening various Indigenous peoples in the region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the country had pledged to significantly reduce deforestation and limit clear-cutting to 3,925 square kilometres, data from Human Rights Watch shows that chainsaws <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/brazil#74d7dc">have razed nearly 13,000 square kilometres of tropical forests</a>, making communities of Indigenous peoples even more vulnerable.</p>
<p>The rate of deforestation in these territories increased by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01368-x">34 per cent between 2018 and 2019, despite Brazil’s commitment in 2009 to reduce it by 80 per cent</a>. This has led to the forced displacement of communities over hundreds of kilometres, as well as major health problems and a loss of reference points. According to Human Rights Watch, nearly <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/19/crisis-brazilian-amazon">13,235 square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest</a> was clear cut between August 2020 and July 2021, an 22 per cent increase, compared to the same period in the previous year.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/elections-in-brazil-lula-faces-many-challenges-running-against-jair-bolsonaro-183494">This coincides</a> with Jair Bolsonaro’s accession to power. In the month of January 2022 alone, 430 square kilometres of tropical forest was destroyed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60333422">five times more than in January 2021</a>.</p>
<h2>Threats and assassinations</h2>
<p>Multiple abuses have been documented in Brazil since the beginning of colonization, including <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/09/17/rainforest-mafias/how-violence-and-impunity-fuel-deforestation-brazils-amazon">the illegal encroachment of the Brazilian state</a> on Indigenous territories. Under Bolsonaro, the number of criminal networks contributing to the deforestation of the Amazon has multiplied. Organized crime views the large timber and agriculture industries as opportunities to move and launder money. The groups illegally exploit forest land, then <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90698713/a-hidden-major-cause-of-global-deforestation-organized-crime">hide drugs</a> in timber shipments destined for Europe or Asia.</p>
<p>Experts qualify this illegal activity as “<a href="https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/narcotrafficking-in-brazil-speeds-up-amazon-rainforest-destruction-and-increases-violence/#.Yp6lTi3pNN0">narco-deforestation</a>.” Numerous illegal gold and mineral extraction sites are also operating in the Amazon, and the companies running them often make threats to the <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/munduruku-fight-save-amazon-indigenous-world-deforestation/">Munduruku that live there</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/02/cop26-dont-be-fooled-bolsonaros-pledges">People and activists who have protested the ongoing deforestation</a> have been threatened, harassed and killed. In 2019, the NGO Global Witness recorded <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/all-countries-and-regions/brazil/">24 deaths of environmental activists and land defenders</a>, almost all occurring in the Amazon. This puts Brazil in third place among the countries with the highest number of deaths of environmental defenders, after <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/environmental-activists/defending-tomorrow/">Colombia and the Philippines</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr19/5694/2022/en/">There are reminders of this in the news</a>. Bruno Araujo Pereira, a defender of environmental and Indigenous rights, and British journalist Dom Phillips have been missing since June 5, in an area called the Javari Valley, which has a reputation of being “<a href="https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2022/06/dom-phillips-and-bruno-araujo-pereira-brazil/">lawless</a>.”</p>
<p>According to a local organization, the two had received death threats shortly before disappearing. Brazilian police first said <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/belongings-found-journalist-indigenous-expert-amazon-brazil-1.6486476">search teams had discovered their belongings</a> and later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/13/dom-phillips-bruno-pereira-bodies-found-brazil">that bodies were spotted in the area of their disappearance</a>. Police reported on June 15 they had <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/suspects-confess-killing-british-journalist-brazilian-guide-band-news-2022-06-15/">found human remains while searching for the pair</a> and that a fisherman who had fought with the pair had confessed to their killing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="boat on a river in amazon" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468517/original/file-20220613-16-4qip2p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police navigate the Itaquai River during the search for British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous affairs expert Bruno Araujo Pereira in the Indigenous territory of the Javari Valley in Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state, Brazil, on June 10, 2022. Phillips and Pereira were last seen on June 5.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Edmar Barros)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The number of deaths of people involved in environmental and territorial defence may be greatly underestimated, as data are not available and transparent for all countries.</p>
<h2>Women and children, the main victims of deforestation</h2>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/ClimateChange/COP21.pdf">United Nations report</a> reveals a strong correlation between worsening climate change and deteriorating human rights around the world.</p>
<p>Deforestation disproportionately affects <a href="https://www.fern.org/publications-insight/forest-loss-affects-women-and-children-disproportionally-1966/">Indigenous communities</a>, especially women and children. It increases the pressure already placed on women to feed their children and families, while limiting their access to essential goods, including medicine. </p>
<p>Indeed, the health of these communities depends on access to natural medicinal products found in biodiversity. The Amazon is a major reservoir of substances used in the manufacture of several pharmaceutical products available on the South American continent. </p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/53/6/573/224740">Nearly 80 per cent of the population</a> in developing countries relies on natural medicinal products for their primary health care. In the majority of communities, it is also women who are responsible for cultivating the land and providing transportation and water treatment.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="indigenous people on steps" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468518/original/file-20220613-21-qpn2f7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">People watch police activities during the search for British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous affairs expert Bruno Araujo Pereira. Deforestation disproportionately affects Indigenous people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Edmar Barros)</span></span>
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<p>Children are equally at risk. For example, a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.03.002">study conducted in sub-Saharan African countries</a> shows a link between the loss of forest cover and the deterioration of health conditions of the youngest. Malnutrition, caused by reduced availability of fruits, vegetables and nuts, can affect children’s growth. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-environment-wildfire-who-idUSKCN1VK1FM">The exposure to smoke</a> from the multiple fires in the Amazon is also likely to cause respiratory problems and even more serious conditions in children.</p>
<h2>More farming, more deforestation</h2>
<p>Deforestation in Brazil offers a preview of the impact that climate change will have on human rights, both in Latin America and elsewhere in the world. In addition, due to the war in Ukraine, Brazil is looking to <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2022/04/30/can-brazil-help-with-food-shortages-around-the-world">fill the food gap</a> on world markets with crops such as wheat and grain.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-05-04/world-will-face-a-food-crisis-says-brazilian-minister">Brazil’s contribution</a> is appreciated by countries such as <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2022/sc14894.doc.htm">Sudan, Pakistan and Haiti</a>, which are among those most affected by the food crisis. But increased production may dangerously accelerate deforestation and human rights abuses can be expected to increase.</p>
<p>One thing is certain, one of the lungs of our planet is seriously ill and time is running out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185085/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Félix Bhérer-Magnan ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil is at its peak, with 2022 breaking all records. Deforestation threatens human rights.Félix Bhérer-Magnan, Étudiant au doctorat en science politique, Université LavalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1825102022-05-05T19:59:15Z2022-05-05T19:59:15ZPoliticians in high-vis say they love manufacturing. But if we want more Australian-made jobs, here’s what we need<p>Most politicians vocally support Australian-made products. Manufacturing certainly provides excellent opportunities for candidates in high-vis to make election campaign announcements.</p>
<p>Labor has <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/policies/a-future-made-in-australia">promised</a> to make Australia “a country that makes things again”. It has emphasised locally-made transport, NBN infrastructure, apprenticeships and defence-related production.</p>
<p>The Coalition has spruiked the federal government’s <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/make-it-happen-the-australian-governments-modern-manufacturing-strategy/our-modern-manufacturing-strategy%22%22">modern manufacturing strategy</a>. It highlights technology investment and six priority areas (minerals, food, medical, clean energy, defence and space).</p>
<p>But despite the seemingly endless announcements, Australian manufacturing remains a problem for the major parties. Whoever wins the federal election will need to do things very differently if they genuinely want to boost local production.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-be-too-quick-to-dismiss-dying-trades-those-skills-are-still-in-demand-107894">Don’t be too quick to dismiss ‘dying trades’, those skills are still in demand</a>
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<h2>Another way forward for manufacturing</h2>
<p>In the mid-1960s, Australian manufacturing employed around <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/manufacturing%22%22">25%</a> of the working population; it’s now down around <a href="https://labourmarketinsights.gov.au/industries/industry-details?industryCode=C">6.4%</a>. </p>
<p>Manufacturing’s share of GDP is also in decline, now sitting at around <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.MANF.ZS?locations=AU">6%</a>. Jobs continue to <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7696637/business-used-to-promote-pms-job-creation-agenda-set-to-cut-jobs/?cs=14329">drift offshore</a>.</p>
<p>Leaving things to the “free market” clearly isn’t working for Australian manufacturing. But patriotic argument we must get back to the “good old days” where everything was supposedly made in Australia is also unrealistic.</p>
<p>There is another way: a coordinated and targeted national industry policy that favours long-term planning over a short-term, scattergun approach.</p>
<h2>Tapping into the global green economy</h2>
<p>What Australia needs is coordinated <a href="https://percapita.org.au/our_work/a-blueprint-for-better-cleaner-jobs/">national industry policy</a> supporting niche, specialist manufacturing.</p>
<p>This policy would drive an ecosystem of industries and sectors geared towards emissions reduction and skills development. It would help Australia take its place in the booming global <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/renewables-2021/executive-summary">“green” technology economy</a>. </p>
<p>For example, policy cleverly targeting <a href="https://asiasociety.org/australia/looking-ahead-manufacturing-australias-future-not-its-past">gaps in national and international supply chains</a> could support expansion of renewable energy technology manufacturing.</p>
<p>This targeted approach requires manufacturing policy to be developed in step with policy on education, energy, mining, research and development, and emissions reduction.</p>
<p>Done right, the international evidence shows tailored support for niche industries can be very successful.</p>
<p><a href="https://policyinstitute.iu.edu/doc/mpi/insight/2018-03.pdf">Germany</a>, for example, has a coordinated policy emphasising technical skills, generous funding for research and development, and energy sector decarbonisation. This approach supports high-end vehicle manufacturing.</p>
<p><a href="https://item.unisg.ch/en/divisions/production-management/swiss-manufacturing-survey-and-award">Switzerland</a> has specialised in luxury consumer products, precision instruments and food items. In <a href="https://pure.au.dk/ws/files/98323703/Danish_Manufacturing_Full_Report.pdf">Denmark</a> the policy focus has been on high-quality consumer and industrial products – from bespoke furniture to aircraft – for international markets.</p>
<p>Australia can’t do everything. But <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/1635914/beyond-business-as-usual-a-21st-century-culture-of-manufacturing-in-australia.pdf">boosting ecologically and socially responsible industries</a> is a good start. It would also help attract investment by shoring up economic certainty around <a href="http://www.etunational.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ETU_Submission_August_2018_Electric_Vehicles.pdf">Australia’s energy future</a>.</p>
<h2>What can governments do to help?</h2>
<p>Direct financial benefits to manufacturers certainly help, if they require manufacturers to remain onshore. </p>
<p>The federal government could also offer tax-related “carrots and sticks” requiring foreign-owned companies to establish production sites in Australia, so as to avoid tariffs.</p>
<p>Government procurement policies that more overtly favour local manufacturing can also be effective, given the influential size of state and federal governments as consumers themselves. Opting for overseas-made tenders, such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-02/inner-west-light-rail-trams-out-of-warranty/100667702">Sydney’s crack-riddled light rail sets</a>, can prove very expensive in the long run.</p>
<p>When governments commit to onshore production, Australia can produce excellent products meeting international demand. Take, for example, the Bushmaster armoured vehicles produced by <a href="https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/investing-australian-capability#australiandefenceindustryspending">Thales Australia</a> in Bendigo and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/volodymyr-zelenskyy-australian-parliament-address/100956534">requested by Ukraine</a>. Thales spent A$1.9 billion on <a href="https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/investing-australian-capability#australiandefenceindustryspending">Australian suppliers between 2018 and 2020</a>, generating a significant local return on government spending.</p>
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<p>For employers in manufacturing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-be-too-quick-to-dismiss-dying-trades-those-skills-are-still-in-demand-107894">skills shortages</a> can impede expansion. </p>
<p>As I argue in my book <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-87243-4">Industrial Craft in Australia</a>, Australia can learn from countries that put long-term technical education at the heart of their industrial policy. </p>
<p>The German <a href="https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications/4184">vocational training sector</a>, for example, involves industry employer associations, unions and <a href="https://theconversation.com/work-councils-could-be-the-future-of-australian-industrial-democracy-in-an-abcc-world-73129">work councils</a> collaborating with a publicly subsidised training system. This produces a highly skilled workforce with scholarly and technical knowledge.</p>
<p>At the very least, Australia could do more to directly support apprentice uptake and <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/An_Investment_in_Productivity_and_Inclusion.pdf">pay 50% of their wages</a>. This must occur alongside substantial reinvestment in TAFE, rather than supporting <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hundreds-of-millions-lost-from-vocational-scheme-20191206-p53hqk.html">unreliable private training providers</a>.</p>
<h2>Electric opportunities for Australia</h2>
<p>Two examples show what’s possible: electric vehicles (EVs) and solar batteries. </p>
<p>The conventional thinking is that Australian car manufacturing is “dead”. But recent research published by the <a href="https://www.carmichaelcentre.org.au/rebuilding_vehicle_manufacture_in_australia">Carmichael Centre</a> and <a href="https://percapita.org.au/our_work/a-blueprint-for-better-cleaner-jobs/">Per Capita</a> suggests EVs and/or EV component manufacturing remains viable, especially as local demand for EVs <a href="https://electricvehiclecouncil.com.au/demand-for-evs-now-drastically-outstripping-supply-state-of-evs-report/">outstrips supply</a>.</p>
<p>Much of Australia’s existing automotive-manufacturing infrastructure is lying unused, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/28/all-the-bones-are-there-could-a-new-electric-vehicle-be-built-in-australia">could be revamped</a> for component manufacturing and assembly. </p>
<p>On solar batteries, Australia could capitalise on <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/big-switch">soaring</a> global demand for battery storage of renewable energy.</p>
<p>Australia has its own lithium and zinc reserves – key battery ingredients. So it makes more sense to add value to <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-more-jobs-in-australia-cut-our-ore-exports-and-make-more-metals-at-home-124592">our mineral resources</a> than to ship raw materials offshore and buy back overseas-produced batteries <a href="https://intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au/environment-and-sustainability/green-manufacturing-boost-australias-economy">at inflated prices</a>.</p>
<p>Currently, very few companies completely manufacture solar batteries in Australia. </p>
<p>One exception is sonnen, based <a href="https://sonnen.com.au/former-holden-factory-produces-solar-batteries-new-zealand/">at an old Holden plant</a> in South Australia. Sonnen is now <a href="https://www.shell.com/media/news-and-media-releases/2019/smart-energy-storage-systems.html">owned</a> by Shell – even fossil fuel giants can see where global industry is going.</p>
<h2>How can we afford all this?</h2>
<p>Australian taxpayers subsidised the fossil fuels sector to the tune of <a href="https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/australian-fossil-fuel-subsidies-surge-to-11-6-billion-in-2021-22/">$11.6 billion in 2021-2022</a>. The Morrison government just promised <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7697938/fuel-refiners-get-250m-to-shore-up-supply/">$250 million to oil refineries</a> alone.</p>
<p>Supporting fossil fuels comes with dire climate consequences. But it’s also worth asking whether it makes sense to heavily subsidise low value-add extractive industries. </p>
<p>Australia can afford to transform manufacturing into an economically viable, environmentally sustainable and job-creating sector. For that, we need a strategic and long-term approach.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/design-and-repair-must-work-together-to-undo-our-legacy-of-waste-119932">Design and repair must work together to undo our legacy of waste</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182510/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jesse Adams Stein receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union.</span></em></p>Australia can afford to transform Australian manufacturing into an economically viable, environmentally sustainable and job-creating sector. To do that, we need a strategic and long-term approach.Jesse Adams Stein, Senior Lecturer & ARC DECRA Fellow, School of Design, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1641082021-07-21T13:06:22Z2021-07-21T13:06:22ZGreen bonds can help finance clean energy – as long as the projects they fund are transparent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412144/original/file-20210720-15-1vk2mdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=485%2C296%2C5479%2C3574&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Green growth?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/business-finance-money-conceptsave-prepare-future-1536940751">Shutterstock/Freedom365day</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ahead of hosting the <a href="https://ukcop26.org/">climate change summit</a> in Scotland later this year, the UK government appears keen to demonstrate its green credentials. So far it is <a href="https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/climate-change-targets-the-road-to-net-zero/">not on track</a> to meet its own carbon-free goals, but in a move that may well accelerate progress, it recently announced plans to release <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/998127/20210630_UK_Government_Green_Financing_Framework_Final.pdf">£15 billion worth of “green bonds”</a> to fund environmental projects. </p>
<p>Put simply, green sovereign bonds are like any other bonds – a form of government borrowing from investors. The UK is offering a “standard” green bond, which can be bought and sold at any time, and also a type of green saving product, with a three-year fixed interest rate aimed at households. Anyone aged 16 or over with a UK bank will be able to invest anything from £100 to £100,000 in the scheme.</p>
<p>The idea is that the money invested is earmarked solely for projects that address climate change and other environmental issues. These might include initiatives such as developing low carbon buildings and transport, adapting to climate change and protecting ecosystems. </p>
<p>Importantly for investors, green bonds don’t carry the risk of the individual project, which is on the shoulders of those issuing the bonds, in this case the British government. For the green economy more generally, the bonds also signal government commitment to the cause, raising overall investor confidence in environmentally friendly investments.</p>
<p>It has become an increasingly popular way to raise funds. Green bonds now represent roughly 1% of the total bond market, and since 2016 the number of green bonds issued has been growing at an annual average <a href="https://www.climatebonds.net/2021/03/uk-announces-debut-sovereign-green-bonds-ignite-britains-market">rate of 60%</a>. Last year, global cumulative issuance (supplying bonds) reached <a href="https://www.climatebonds.net/2021/03/uk-announces-debut-sovereign-green-bonds-ignite-britains-market">US$1 trillion</a> (£725 million).</p>
<p>Most green bond issuers are private corporations, including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/mar/20/apple-green-bond-environment-energy-toyota-climate-change?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0">Apple</a>, <a href="https://www.esgtoday.com/toyota-financial-services-issues-1-6-billion-asset-backed-green-bond/">Toyota</a>, <a href="https://www.endsreport.com/article/1535203/unilever-issues-250m-green-bond%5D">Unilever</a>, and <a href="https://www.sse.com/news-and-views/2017/08/sse-issues-biggest-ever-green-bond-by-uk-company">SSE</a>, Britain’s second largest energy supplier. But an increasing number of national governments have been getting in on the act. </p>
<p>Poland and France were the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/what-are-green-bonds-explainer">first European countries</a> to do so, and Germany recently issued a 30-year <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/bonds-green-germany-idUSKBN25T2UP">bond worth €6 billion</a> (£5.1 billion). The US, Canada, Australia, and emerging economies such as China, Brazil, Chile and Mexico have also issued government backed green bonds.</p>
<p>The UK green bond scheme is likely to be one of the world’s largest, and may provide much-needed finance for environmental initiatives. But it is essential that issues of integrity, impact and transparency are properly considered so investors can be sure their bonds are funding projects that make a difference. </p>
<p>Including specific targets (and a measure) for projects, such as reducing carbon, is also important. Likewise, the duration of projects should <a href="https://www.generali-investments.com/uploads/2021/02/b0949f648a1fb0198a14fbbd6d404065/white-paper3_green-bonds_vfinal3-002.pdf">align with the lifetime</a> of the bond, so if a ten-year bond finances a five-year project, it needs to be replaced at that point by something similar.</p>
<h2>Green shoots?</h2>
<p>So how can investors in green bonds assess their impact in terms of contribution to climate mitigation? The UK’s “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-green-financing">Green Finance Framework</a>” – the system by which the bonds are issued – has been independently assessed using a widely adopted set of rules known as the “<a href="https://www.icmagroup.org/assets/documents/Sustainable-finance/2021-updates/Green-Bond-Principles-June-2021-140621.pdf">Green Bond Principles</a>”. These provide an accepted benchmark for assessing the environmental integrity and possible impact of the bonds.</p>
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<img alt="COP26 logo on screens." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/412146/original/file-20210720-19-1f8666r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A green meeting later this year.</span>
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<p>That impact on dealing with issues such as climate change will only become clear in the years to come. But for the moment, it is possible to take a positive view about the policy and its potential impact on what are essential projects: cleaner transport, more renewable energy and improved energy efficiency. </p>
<p>The bonds also send a clear signal about the UK’s broader commitment to its green objectives, which can help inspire additional investor interest in environmental projects. In terms of monitoring projects, the scheme will be open to scrutiny by investors and other organisations, including the media. People with green saving bonds can then actively assess the impact of their investments on the environment – while benefiting financially from a fixed and secure return.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catarina Araya Cardoso does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Green bonds also encourage environmental investment elsewhere.Catarina Araya Cardoso, Lecturer in Economics, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1570232021-04-07T16:24:04Z2021-04-07T16:24:04ZSustainability rankings don’t always identify sustainable companies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393675/original/file-20210406-15-16ubkld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C155%2C5184%2C2762&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ESG rankings and lists aren't often entirely reliable for consumers or investors wanting to make decisions on companies they buy from or invest in.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Appolinary Kalashnikova/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.bat.com/">British American Tobacco</a> (famous for cigarettes), <a href="https://www.coca-cola.ca/homepage">Coca-Cola</a> (world-renowned for its sugary soft drinks) and <a href="https://www.glencore.com/">Glencore</a> (a British/Swiss mining company) were recently ranked in the top five most environmentally and socially responsible companies <a href="https://www.hl.co.uk/news/articles/ftse-100-the-5-highest-esg-rated-companies">on the FTSE 100</a>, the share index of the 100 biggest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.</p>
<p>As consumers and investors, we often look at environmental, social and governance (ESG) rankings to guide our purchase, investment and employment decisions. But what should we make of this list, compiled by British investment services firm Hargreaves Lansdown?</p>
<p>As kids, we learned that smoking kills, yet British American Tobacco has a place at the top of the list, suggesting it’s a highly responsible company. </p>
<p>Obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are life-threatening diseases, yet Coca Cola, a leading sugar purveyor, also has a top ranking. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tractor trailer truck backs into a loading dock at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida past a Now Hiring sign." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393447/original/file-20210405-19-8aut0q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tractor trailer truck backs into a loading dock at Coca-Cola Beverages Florida past a Now Hiring sign in May 2020, in Hollywood, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Glencore is being investigated for <a href="https://www.glencore.com/media-and-insights/news/investigation-by-the-serious-fraud-office">alleged fraud offences</a>, yet it’s No. 4 on the same list. </p>
<h2>Meaningless?</h2>
<p>A number of lists rank companies as being “<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021">most responsible</a>” or the “<a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">best corporate citizens</a>” or the “<a href="https://www.canadastop100.com/environmental/">most green</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-Global-100_Methodology_Updated.pptx.pdf">Corporate Knights Global 100</a>, for example, is an annual list that evaluates companies based on their sustainability performance. Companies are given a score based on their environmental, social, governance and economic performance and then ranked from one to 100. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/americas-most-responsible-companies-2021">Newsweek magazine’s</a> America’s Most Responsible Company list also ranks U.S. companies on their sustainability performance.</p>
<p>Its 2021 list ranked Citigroup as the country’s ninth most responsible firm. The bank was recently fined <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/business/citigroup-fine-risk-management.html">US$400 million by federal regulators</a> for “unsafe and unsound banking practices.” </p>
<p>Microsoft is ranked third on the same list, yet earlier this year, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/01/22/microsoft-security-shocker-as-250-million-customer-records-exposed-online/?sh=545f84914d1b">250 million client records were exposed online without password protection.</a> </p>
<p>Procter & Gamble, 23rd on the Newsweek list, is <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/p-g-shareholders-vote-in-favor-of-a-deforestation-report-1.1507649">currently being scrutinized</a> for its reliance on trees from Canada’s northern boreal forest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A forest with ferns and tall pine trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393867/original/file-20210407-15-za7qxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A portion of Canada’s boreal forest in Québec.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ali Kazal/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Canada, Corporate Knights ranks <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/2020-best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">Canada’s Best 50 corporate citizens</a>. Leading the pack is Mountain Equipment Co-op, which recently apologized for the lack of diversity in a marketing campaign that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mec-diversity-ottawa-problem-open-letter-1.4880900">excluded people of colour</a>.</p>
<p>Hydro One, <a href="https://www.corporateknights.com/reports/best-50/2020-best-50-results-15930648/">in the No. 11 position</a>, has been taken to task for its <a href="https://financialpost.com/commodities/energy/ontario-energy-minister-on-hydro-one-ceo-pay-this-is-not-a-negotiation">executive compensation packages</a>.</p>
<h2>Consumers, investors look at rankings</h2>
<p>Increasing numbers of investors depend on ESG information from third parties for their investment decisions. Similarly, consumers are seeking <a href="https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15087-consumers-want-sustainable-products.html">sustainable products</a> and looking to responsible firms to inform their <a href="https://www.voguebusiness.com/sustainability/the-rise-in-esg-ratings-whats-the-score">purchasing decisions</a>. </p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-inside-look-at-esg-ratings-and-why-they-should-matter-to-you-1.1564931">an increasing number of companies</a> entering the ESG rankings field. Currently there is no regulatory oversight or consistency across ranking agencies on what factors are being assessed in the rankings and who is assessing them. </p>
<p>As well, there are <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/09/the-challenge-of-rating-esg-performance">no global or nationally accepted standards</a> or consistent requirements on what should be reported or measured for ESG performance. Companies are evaluated based on a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/why-esg-is-here-to-stay">wide range of criteria</a>, making it challenging for consumers and investors to make fully informed decisions.</p>
<p>Should investors look at <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-inside-look-at-esg-ratings-and-why-they-should-matter-to-you-1.1564931">ESG ratings</a> to assess their investment choices and the associated risks? </p>
<p>We looked at the top five Canadian firms from Corporate Knights 2020 Global 100 list and searched the Sustainalytics ESG Risk Database to see their ESG risk. <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-data/">Sustainalytics</a>, a company initially launched in Canada as <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/about-us/">Jantzi Research</a>, measures a company’s exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and how well a company is managing those risks, as well as the extent of any <a href="https://connect.sustainalytics.com/esg-risk-ratings-methodology?_ga=2.197064426.733883677.1616622971-1797556647.1616523490&_gac=1.249883186.1616623523.EAIaIQobChMIvenN8_fJ7wIVSuDICh116gILEAAYASAAEgJA-_D_BwE">unmanaged ESG risk</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Cascades sign is seen next to an evergreen tree." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393678/original/file-20210406-19-16wln4q.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Cascades plant is seen in Laval, Que. in A Cascades plant is seen in Laval, Que. in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three Canadian companies — the <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/bank-of-montreal/1007897299/">Bank of Montreal</a>, <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/cascades-inc/1007973123/">Cascades</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/canadian-national-railway-co/1008231266/">Canadian National Railway</a> — were ranked as low risk, while two, <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/algonquin-power-utilities-corp/1008760564/">Algonquin</a> and <a href="https://www.sustainalytics.com/esg-rating/bombardier-inc/1008573450/">Bombardier</a>, which placed even higher on the Corporate Knights Global 100 list than the three aforementioned companies, are considered high risk by the Sustainalytics ESG Risk rating. </p>
<h2>No consistency</h2>
<p>Why would one well-known ESG ranking agency rate a company a leader while another flag it as high risk? If all the ratings and rankings are measuring ESG, we would anticipate consistency across rankings.</p>
<p>While rankings should help us in our quest to make better, more sustainable decisions and choose ethical companies as <a href="https://hbr.org/amp/2019/06/research-actually-consumers-do-buy-sustainable-products">consumers</a> and investors, they can be misleading and provide only a partial view of a company’s ESG commitments. </p>
<p>When determining which rankings to trust, we suggest looking for ranking agencies that use public information to assess companies on ESG performance. Quality ranking organizations are transparent about how they analyze companies and come up with their rankings. Those reading the lists should be able to assess the information provided in the ranking quickly and with confidence about what it really says.</p>
<p>Look for rankings that don’t accept payment from companies to participate; this reduces their power to influence their placement. Look at information from multiple rankings and ratings.</p>
<p>When companies in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00208825.2004.11043718">contested industries</a> (those that do harm) score high in sustainability rankings, it should raise serious questions about the validity of the ranking.</p>
<p>Rather than blindly trusting rankings, understand the information provided by each list. While rankings are designed to offer compressed information, unfortunately, we still need to do our own research to evaluate companies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some companies rank high on some lists that measure environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, and rank near the bottom on other lists. Which rankings should we trust?Rumina Dhalla, Associate Professor, Organizational Studies and Sustainable Commerce and Director, Institute for Sustainable Commerce, University of GuelphFelix Arndt, John F. Wood Chair in Entrepreneurship, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1527302021-01-20T13:01:13Z2021-01-20T13:01:13ZHydrogen gas-fuelled airships could spur development in remote communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379560/original/file-20210119-24-1v4ilrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C25%2C5716%2C2923&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hydrogen gas was banned for use in airships based on misinformation and outright falsehoods 100 years ago. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Piqsels)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What do tomatoes, hemp and hydrogen gas have in common? Only one thing: they were all victims of misinformation that banned their use. Harmless products that could have had a positive role in the economy and society were shunned for generations.</p>
<p>It seems incredible today to think that Europeans believed tomatoes were poisonous for about <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-tomato-was-feared-in-europe-for-more-than-200-years-863735/">200 years</a>. People did get sick, and some died after eating tomatoes. The culprit was pewter dishes favoured by the upper classes. Tomato acid leached out enough lead out to be poisonous.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tomatoes" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379293/original/file-20210118-19-xxnwf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The world deprived itself of tomatoes for generations due to unfounded fears they were poisonous.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The advent of porcelain dishware and Italian pizza finally sorted out the real problem. But once a myth is born, it can be hard for the truth to emerge. Europe lagged a long time behind North America in tomato consumption.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://thehia.org/History/">prohibition of hemp</a>, the fibre of the cannabis plant, has a more nuanced story and competing explanations. Some accounts sound like conspiracy theories. </p>
<p>The alleged conspirators were industrialists in paper, plastics and pharmaceuticals who sought drug regulations to eliminate hemp as their competitor. This is difficult to prove, but economist <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3003160?origin=crossref&seq=1">George Stigler’s</a> seminal article in 1971 on the economics of regulation lends support to the theory.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Industrial hemp fields." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379368/original/file-20210118-13-b8m36b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this August 2019 photo, rows plants are shown at an industrial hemp farm in Michigan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The best-documented cause of hemp’s vilification is racism. Notable racist slurs by U.S. government official <a href="https://greathemp.net/why-hemp-was-banned-in-1937/">Harry Anslinger</a>, who drafted the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, leave no doubt <a href="https://timeline.com/harry-anslinger-racist-war-on-drugs-prison-industrial-complex-fb5cbc281189">of his bias</a>. As commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, he targeted racialized minorities who used hemp plants. </p>
<p>The fear-mongering has ended in most places and important uses for hemp and cannabis are making a valuable contribution to health care, nutrition and fibre. But the stigma of the false claims continue, as does prohibition in many places.</p>
<h2>Hydrogen ban</h2>
<p>Unlike the prohibition on hemp, hydrogen gas bans in the United States and Canada are extremely narrow. It’s legal to use hydrogen for almost every conceivable purpose, except one: as a gas to provide buoyancy for airships, more commonly known as blimps (although <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/01/04/blimp-airship-dirigible-whats-the-difference/">there are differences between airships, blimps and dirigibles</a>). </p>
<p>In fact, Canada still has a ban enshrined in its <a href="https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/acts-regulations/list-regulations/canadian-aviation-regulations-sor-96-433/standards/part-v-airworthiness-manual-chapter-541-airships#541_7">air regulations</a> that states: “Hydrogen is not an acceptable lifting gas for use in airships.”</p>
<p>Canada’s ban on this use of hydrogen is strange given that Canada has never had an airship industry. The origins of the false information that led to this ban on the use of hydrogen are even more surprising.</p>
<p>Helium was discovered in natural gas <a href="https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/heliumnaturalgas.html">in Kansas</a> in 1903, and an experimental refinery was built in Texas in 1915. At great expense, a <a href="https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/barrage-observation-balloons-ww1-fighter/">few barrage balloons</a> were filled with helium during the First World War. </p>
<p>After the war, the need for helium was unclear. But officials from the U.S. Bureau of Mines wanted to protect their newly established helium refinery. They took advantage of the <a href="https://www.pilotonline.com/history/article_69a33ee2-c328-5b62-acd1-1697ec026cee.html">Roma airship accident in 1922</a> to sell helium to the military. </p>
<p>The Roma was a hydrogen-filled, Italian-built airship sold to the U.S. army. During trials, its rudder broke and the airship crashed in Norfolk, Va., hitting power lines during its descent. All 34 crew members were lost.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Italian airship Roma flies over Norfolk, Virginia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379556/original/file-20210119-23-183rsw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Italian airship Roma flying over Norfolk, Va., in 1921.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(National Archives)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Spreading a falsehood via the media that the crew would have survived had the airship had been filled with helium, the Bureau of Mines was given an audience in Washington, D.C. Before Congress, they <a href="http://airshiphistory.com/wp/airships-vs-submarines/">staged a demonstration</a> with <a href="http://zrsthemovie.com/?page_id=2484">two balloons and a burning splint</a>. </p>
<p>The one filled with helium doused the burning splint. The one marked hydrogen would have put the flame out too, if it were more than 75 per cent pure, but contaminated hydrogen gas is explosive. When the burning splint touched the balloon, it went off like a cannon, rattling the windows in Congress.</p>
<p>Based on this poorly designed high school chemistry level experiment, U.S. politicians banned the use of hydrogen in airships.</p>
<h2>Rubber-stamped laws</h2>
<p>After the Second World War, when the U.S. became the dominant world air power, its regulations were rubber-stamped into the laws of other nations, including Canada. This is how Canada came to have a regulation banning hydrogen in airships that is grounded in neither science nor engineering research. The ban stems from a political decision made in a foreign country 98 years ago based on misinformation.</p>
<p>Hydrogen gas is increasingly heralded as the <a href="https://www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/hydrogen/_jcr_content/par/keybenefits/link.stream/1496312627865/6a3564d61b9aff43e087972db5212be68d1fb2e8/shell-h2-study-new.pdf">mobile energy source</a> of the green economy. Hydrogen fuel cells are used for electric cars, buses, boats, forklifts, trains and recently a converted <a href="https://www.edie.net/news/8/World-s-first-commercial-grade-hydrogen-plane-takes-flight-in-UK--as-government-urged-to-grow--green--hydrogen-sector/">Piper airplane</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hydrogen-trains-are-coming-can-they-get-rid-of-diesel-for-good-110450">Hydrogen trains are coming – can they get rid of diesel for good?</a>
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<p>It is perfectly legal to carry hydrogen in a high-pressure container to power any vehicle, including an airship, but not if carried in a zero-pressure container (gas cell) to lift the airship. </p>
<p>The prohibition on hydrogen has held back research and created doubts about the economic viability of airships that must depend on scarce, <a href="https://lynceans.org/all-posts/modern-airships-part-1/">finite supplies of helium</a>. </p>
<p>Lies and misinformation have consequences. Canada needs a transportation solution to the chronic problems of food insecurity, crowded housing and poverty in remote Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>Hydrogen-filled cargo airships could do for the Northern economy what the railways did for Western Canada 125 years ago. In the 21st century, myths and misrepresentations should not go unchallenged. Regulatory decisions made when we were still hand-cranking cars should either be justified or removed from the books.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry E. Prentice owns shares in Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI), an airship research organization with no production and only one employee. He is also the president of ISO Polar, a not-for-profit think tank that encourages the use of cargo airships for northern transportation. </span></em></p>Hydrogen-filled cargo airships could do for the Northern economy what the railways did for Western Canada 125 years ago. It’s time to lift the antiquated ban on hydrogen gas for use in blimps.Barry E. Prentice, Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of ManitobaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1444922020-10-06T01:23:20Z2020-10-06T01:23:20ZAnalysis shows how the Greens have changed the language of economic debate in New Zealand<p>When Health Minister Chris Hipkins recently quipped that the Green Party is “to some extent the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300076180/the-last-day-of-the-coalition-parliament-wraps-up-with-brutal-jokes-and-moments-of-gratitude">conscience of the Labour Party</a>” he was not simply referring to polls suggesting Labour may <a href="https://www.colmarbrunton.co.nz/what-we-do/1-news-poll/">need the Greens’ support</a> to form a government.</p>
<p>Hipkins was also suggesting Green policies help keep Labour honest on environmental and social issues. So, what difference has the Green Party really made to New Zealand’s political debate?</p>
<p>Drawing on a study of 57 million words spoken in parliament between 2003 and 2016, our <a href="https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/16249">analysis</a> shows the presence of a Green party has changed the political conversation on economics and environment.</p>
<p>In the recent <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/nz-election-2020-watch-the-full-jacinda-ardern-and-judith-collins-newshub-leaders-debate.html">Newshub leaders’ debate</a>, both Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins agreed that “growing the economy” was the best way to respond to the economic crisis driven by COVID-19. </p>
<p>Their responses varied only on traditional left-right lines. Ardern argued that raising incomes and investing in training would <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121505783/budget-2020-more-than-2-billion-to-get-kiwis-into-jobs-post-covid19">grow the economy</a>. Collins suggested economic growth should be advanced by increasing consumer spending through <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12365947">temporary tax cuts</a>.</p>
<p>By contrast, Green parties in New Zealand and elsewhere have long questioned the impact of relentless growth on the natural resources of a finite planet. Green thinking is informed by <a href="https://timjackson.org.uk/ecological-economics/pwg/">ecological economics</a>, which aims to achieve more sustainable forms of collective prosperity that meet social needs within the planet’s limits.</p>
<h2>The language of economic growth</h2>
<p>The impact of this radically different view can be observed in New Zealand parliamentary debates. When MPs from National and Labour used the word “economy” they commonly talked about it in the context of “growth” (“grow”/“growing”/“growth”). </p>
<p>On average, National MPs said “growth” once every four mentions of “economy”. Labour MPs said “growth” once every six mentions. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arderns-government-and-climate-policy-despite-a-zero-carbon-law-is-new-zealand-merely-a-follower-rather-than-a-leader-146402">Ardern's government and climate policy: despite a zero-carbon law, is New Zealand merely a follower rather than a leader?</a>
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<p>Green MPs used “growth” once every 20 mentions of “economy”. When they did mention growth it was primarily to question the idea and to present alternative ideas about a sustainable economy. </p>
<p>Our analysis of the most recent parliamentary term (2017-2020) is ongoing.
However, while Labour has recently introduced “<a href="https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-05/b19-wellbeing-budget.pdf">well-being</a>” into discussions of the economy, it is striking how the COVID crisis has reinvigorated the party’s traditional focus on growth economics.</p>
<p>The research also shows Green MPs mention “economy” primarily in relation to the environment, climate change, sustainability and people, rather than in relation to growth. Their distinct focus is on the connections between the economic system and the environment. </p>
<h2>From Labour to the Greens</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/97083457/why-cant-the-greens-be-more-green">criticism</a> that the Greens have not focused enough on “environmental” concerns, Green MPs used words related to environment, climate and conservation more frequently than Labour or National MPs over the 13-year study period. </p>
<p>For example, after controlling for the number of words spoken by each party’s MPs in parliament, Green MPs mentioned “climate change” four times more than National or Labour MPs.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nz-election-2020-survey-shows-voters-are-divided-on-climate-policy-and-urgency-of-action-146569">NZ election 2020: survey shows voters are divided on climate policy and urgency of action</a>
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<p>This represents something of an historical shift. Atmospheric warming and CO₂ were <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/115821159/a-comprehensive-analysis-of-climate-change-debate-in-new-zealands-parliament">first talked</a> about in parliament by Labour MP Fraser Coleman in 1979. And Labour’s Geoffrey Palmer was the first prime minister to place climate change on parliament’s agenda.</p>
<p>But it has been the Greens who have maintained the momentum, using their speaking opportunities in the House to hold governments to account, including progressing legislation on the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2019/0061/latest/LMS183736.html">Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019</a>.</p>
<h2>Making women’s voices heard</h2>
<p>The Green Party has also made a difference to who speaks. By <a href="https://www.greens.org.nz/greens-will-ensure-gender-balance-cabinet">institutionalising gender balance</a> in their leadership and party organisation, and in the way they select their party list for each election, the Greens have consistently elected a higher proportion of female MPs than the other parties. </p>
<p>Historically, female Green MPs have contributed significantly to debates and policy action on inequality, child poverty, Treaty of Waitangi issues, gender equality and action on domestic violence.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-explained-are-consumers-willing-to-pay-more-for-climate-friendly-products-146757">Climate explained: are consumers willing to pay more for climate-friendly products?</a>
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<p>This is significant. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2053168018816228">Analysis</a> of political language globally, particularly on social media, has shown that politicians who identify as women and people of colour are subject to far higher rates of verbal abuse than their male counterparts. This is also the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300096675/twitter-toxicity-and-the-2020-election">experience of female MPs in New Zealand</a>, including women representing the Greens.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Quantity of life or quality of life?’ A 1972 election ad from the Values Party, political ancestor of the Greens.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A history of disruption</h2>
<p>Minority parties often struggle to maintain their identity in coalition arrangements with larger parties, but the Greens have retained a unique position in New Zealand. </p>
<p>In 1972 the <a href="https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/36610/the-values-party">Values Party</a> became the first “green” party to contest a national election anywhere in the world. Former Values activists, including the first Green Party co-leaders Jeanette Fitzsimons and Rod Donald, were later successful in taking the Greens into parliament.</p>
<p>The language of green politics in New Zealand and the questioning of growth can be traced back to these origins. Language and words are significant as vehicles for articulating new ideas and provoking transformative action.</p>
<p>Linguistic analysis therefore shows how influential the Green Party has been in presenting alternatives to the idea that economic growth based on unlimited use of New Zealand’s natural resources is a sustainable option.</p>
<p>If Chris Hipkins is correct and the Greens are Labour’s conscience, it is because
they have effectively disrupted a historical near-consensus among the major parties that economic growth is the only driver of prosperity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the parliamentary record shows, the Greens have been the only party to consistently challenge orthodox ideas about economic growth and prosperity.Geoffrey Ford, Lecturer in Digital Humanities / Postdoctoral Fellow in Political Science and International Relations, University of CanterburyBronwyn Hayward, Professor of Politics, University of CanterburyKevin Watson, Dean of Arts and Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1424582020-07-15T13:59:32Z2020-07-15T13:59:32ZHow banks are trying to capture the green transition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347662/original/file-20200715-29-mx20qe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">philip openshaw / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Private sector banks in the UK should have a central role in financing climate action and supporting a just transition to a low carbon economy. That’s according to a <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/new-report-urges-banks-to-support-just-transition-to-a-sustainable-and-inclusive-economy-in-wake-of-pandemic/">new report</a> from the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. </p>
<p>Framed as a strategic opportunity that climate change represents for investors, the report identifies four specific reasons why banks should support the just transition. It would reinforce trust after the financial crisis; it would demonstrate leadership; it would reduce their exposure to material climate risks; and it would expand their customer base by creating demand for new services and products.</p>
<p>The report is not alone in its attempt to put banking and finance at the centre of a green and just transition. Similar arguments are presented by the <a href="http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/995131540533377620/pdf/131346-WP-Greening-Banks-CapitalMkts-PUBLIC.pdf">World Bank</a>, by the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_17">European Union</a>, and by many national task forces on financing the transition, including the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/703816/green-finance-taskforce-accelerating-green-finance-report.pdf">UK’s</a>.</p>
<p>In all these cases, banks and financial markets are presented as essential allies in the green and just transition. At the same time, the climate emergency is described as a chance that finance cannot miss. Not because of the legal duties that arise from international conventions and the national framework, but because banking the green transition could help reestablish public legitimacy, innovate and guarantee future cashflow.</p>
<p>Twelve years after the financial crisis, we may be aware that banks and finance were responsible for the intensification of climate change and the exacerbation of inequality, but such reports say our future is still inexorably in their hands. </p>
<h2>Is there no alternative to climate finance?</h2>
<p>Four decades on from British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s infamous motto that <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21703018">There Is No Alternative</a> to the rule of the market, the relationship between financial capital and the green and just transition is presented as universal and inevitable. However, a vision of the future is a political construction whose strength and content depend on who is shaping it, the depth of their networks and their capacity transform a vision into reality.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nick Beer / shutterstock" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347697/original/file-20200715-17-177g4ey.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">UK banks haven’t recovered their reputation since the financial crisis.</span>
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<p>In the case of climate finance, it seems that a very limited number of people and institutions have been strategically occupying key spaces in the public debate and contributed to the reproduction of this monotone vision. In our ongoing <a href="http://propertiesintransformation.org/about-green-bonds/">research</a> we are mapping various groups involved in green financial policymaking: the EU’s High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and its Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, the UK Green Finance Task Force, the participants to the 2018 and 2019 Green Finance Summits in London and the authors behind publications like the LSE’s <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/banking-the-just-transition-in-the-uk/">Banking on a Just Transition</a> report.</p>
<p>Across these networks, key positions are occupied by current and former private industry leaders. Having done well out of the status quo, their trajectories and profiles denote a clear orientation in favour of deregulation and a strong private sector. </p>
<p>Often, the same people and organisations operate across networks and influence both regional and national conversations. Others are hubs that occupy a pivotal role in the construction of the network and in the predisposition of the spaces and guidelines for dialogue and policy making. This is the case, for example, of the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI), a relatively young international NGO headquartered in London whose <a href="https://www.climatebonds.net/about">sole mission</a> is to “mobilise the largest capital market of all, the [US]$100 trillion bond market, for climate change solutions”. Characterised by a strong pro-private finance attitude, CBI proposes policy actions that are infused by the inevitability of aligning the interests of the finance industry with those of the planet.</p>
<h2>Let’s unbank the green and just transition</h2>
<p>COVID-19 has emphasised the socio-economic fragility of global financial capitalism and represents the <a href="http://tsd.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/">shock</a> that may lead to an acceleration of political processes. While corporate giants are declaring bankruptcy and millions are losing their jobs, governments in Europe and across the global north continue to pump trillions into rescuing and relaunching the economy <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20200618STO81513/green-deal-key-to-a-climate-neutral-and-sustainable-eu">in the name of the green recovery</a>.</p>
<p>Political debate and positioning will decide whether these public funds will be spent on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-airline-bailouts-are-so-unpopular-with-economists-137372">bailouts</a> or public investments, on tax breaks for the 1% or provision of essential services, or whether the focus will be on green growth or climate justice. But private finance is already capturing this debate and may become a key beneficiary. Getting a green and just transition does not only depend on the voices that are heard, but also those that are silenced.</p>
<p>Intellectual and political elites on the side of the banks are making it harder to have a serious discussion about addressing climate change. NGOs and campaign groups are participating, but only if they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/ael-2019-0006">share the premises and objectives of the financial sector</a>.</p>
<p>This crowds out more transformative voices from civil society and the academy, and establishes a false public narrative of agreed actions despite the numerous voices outside of this club. And it also normalises the priority of financial market activities, putting profit before people and planet.</p>
<p>The current crisis is an opportunity to rethink what a green and just transition would entail. We must continue to question the role of finance rather than taking it for granted and ensure that the “green and just transition” becomes precisely that: green and just, rather than another source of profits for banks and the 1%.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142458/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tomaso Ferrando received funding from the British Academy Newton Fund and the Flanders Research Foundation (FWO) to research the establishment and expansion of the market for green bonds. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Tischer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Powerful interests are shaping the debate over the transition to a low carbon economy.Tomaso Ferrando, Research Professor, University of AntwerpDaniel Tischer, Lecturer in Management, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1411152020-06-23T15:07:33Z2020-06-23T15:07:33ZFive ways to kickstart a green recovery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343483/original/file-20200623-188911-4mh2ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Natalia D / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With a recession looming, it’s time to come up with a good recovery plan. There is no point in simply reinventing an outdated economic model, and recent research by <a href="https://www.presse.uni-wuppertal.de/fileadmin/presse/news/2020/06/BretschgerGriegWelfensXiong2020eiiwWPfin.pdf">economists</a> and <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.l6758">health experts</a> has underlined how instead a “green recovery” could benefit not just the climate but also human health and prosperity. </p>
<p>Indeed, many business leaders are already calling for <a href="https://businessfornature.world-television.com/home/english">action to reverse nature loss</a>, a strengthened net-zero carbon goal, and a more <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/more-than-50-global-leaders-pledge-to-build-back-better-with-the-circular-economy">circular economy</a>. If this sort of mission is to be successful, it will need some quick wins in order to build support and participation among citizens and like-minded investors. So here are five proposals that could kickstart a green recovery from COVID-19:</p>
<h2>1. Better buildings</h2>
<p>People were in lockdown for weeks and months and are fed up being confined to their homes. A green recovery should start here. That means mass refurbishments to improve insulation, replace windows, reduce air leakage, improve heating (and cooling) systems, and switch fuels from coal, gas and oil towards renewable energies such as wind and solar.</p>
<p>We could make better use of roof space for <a href="https://skyroom.london/">new housing</a>, solar energy, water storage, gardening and more. There are some issues with these <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15659801.2015.1118844?journalCode=tiee20">green roofs</a>: risks of air pollutants, increased moisture and emerging biohazards. But doing this well and in time will create many jobs. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343538/original/file-20200623-188931-8muy5i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">How to make use of a roof.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RossHelen / shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>2. Better access to healthy food</h2>
<p>Food insecurity has been rising, and <a href="https://www.presse.uni-wuppertal.de/fileadmin/presse/news/2020/06/BretschgerGriegWelfensXiong2020eiiwWPfin.pdf">obesity</a> has been an aggravating factor in COVID-19 mortalities. Healthy diets are proven precautionary measures, supporting immune systems along with improving fitness and robustness. </p>
<p>To encourage people to consume more fruits, vegetables and cereals, the government could consider lowering the VAT rate for organic food and healthy suppliers. To make such food more appealing, it could also set up form of “traffic-light” labelling that displayed the endorsement of NGOs and confirmed good production conditions. Setting up schemes and organisations focused on innovations in supply and combating waste would create jobs and make food supply chains <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-exposed-fragility-in-our-food-system-its-time-to-build-something-more-resilient-139781">more resistant to any recurrent crises</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Smart mobility</h2>
<p>There is a risk that transport will simply return to the previous norm of traffic jams and air pollution. If an economic recovery is to be green, it will be essential to maintain flexible working schemes with less commuting, even after most workplaces reopen. </p>
<p>Research by academics at the UK <a href="https://www.creds.ac.uk/creds-study-uncovers-best-ways-to-change-consumption-to-cut-carbon-footprint/">Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions</a> suggests that the best bet for reducing carbon footprints is reducing car use and moving towards “smart mobility”. This means carpooling, car sharing and bike sharing programs, and well-developed public transportation. </p>
<p>Now is the time to reclaim our cities from motor cars. Any green recovery should include a vast acceleration of biking infrastructures with interconnected cycle highways, safe locking stations, smart renting schemes, recharging infrastructures for e-bikes and e-scooters, and extended walkways. Smart mobility <a href="https://www.businessmaas.com/apps/maaslab-research-assesses-londoners-attitude-to-maas/">apps</a> can help people link up different modes of transportation. Cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam have demonstrated all this is perfectly possible.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343495/original/file-20200623-188896-uu6vwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Amsterdam shows it can be done.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel jakulovic / shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>4. Green our neighbourhoods and cities</h2>
<p>Maintaining and improving urban green space should now become a top priority. Initiatives like Nesta’s <a href="https://www.nesta.org.uk/project/rethinking-parks/?gclid=CjwKCAjw_qb3BRAVEiwAvwq6Vmvy-cnx4DLqoWC_kAvG5CHXgdgInjnu2xeK2ExLGb8NtkUdzddQghoCtCUQAvD_BwE">Rethinking Parks</a> or the Heritage Fund’s <a href="https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/our-work/landscapes-parks-nature/future-parks">Future Parks Accelerator</a> are designed to find ways of managing and funding parks and open spaces across entire towns and cities. </p>
<p>People and businesses could renovate derelict areas and recreate public life, with support from local authorities and a governmental green recovery programme. Doing all this will help adjust development planning by shifting priorities towards longer-term sustainability.</p>
<h2>5. More resilient infrastructures</h2>
<p>Despite <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/the-world-has-an-800bn-annual-infrastructure-gap-heres-how-to-close-it">$2.5 trillion a year</a> already being spent on infrastructure projects worldwide, more investment is needed to ensure access to housing, mobility, services and greenspace for all in the new abnormal. </p>
<p>Take water, for instance. A green recovery could be boosted by building a new generation of decentralised water tanks, shared between neighbouring apartment owners. This would be better for the environment as rainwater is preserved and could be used for gardening and cleaning outside the home. Meanwhile so-called “<a href="https://www.construction21.org/articles/h/china-sponges-cities.html">sponge city</a>” initiatives can reduce the risk of urban floods by increasing green spaces, restoring wetlands and using permeable new construction materials to absorb rainwater and delay runoff. </p>
<p>The above actions would complement efforts to transform the energy system away from fossil fuels and towards a system based on renewable generation, with decentralised “micro grids” and the ability to cope with a surge in demand from electric vehicles.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141115/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raimund Bleischwitz receives funding from UKRI and Horizon2020. He is involved in <a href="http://www.bartletthacks.com">www.bartletthacks.com</a>.</span></em></p>How to trigger eco-innovations after COVID-19.Raimund Bleischwitz, Chair in Sustainable Global Resources, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1377172020-05-08T10:00:16Z2020-05-08T10:00:16ZPost-war reconstruction involved taxing richest – it could be a model for building a low carbon economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333354/original/file-20200507-49589-1mf1hsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4167%2C3362&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/seamless-pattern-red-poppy-flowers-1023842122">Maria_Galybina/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid the worst public health crisis in a generation, an economic disaster is brewing. Experts predict the fallout from COVID-19 could cause a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52566030">historic downturn</a>. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/04/28/1910114117">a recent study</a> indicated that more than 3 billion people can expect to live in places with <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-three-billion-people-really-live-in-temperatures-as-hot-as-the-sahara-by-2070-137776">“near unliveable” temperatures by 2070</a>. In order to create <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/may/05/green-stimulus-can-repair-global-economy-and-climate-study-says">long lasting prosperity</a>, the post-pandemic recovery will also need to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52547885">tackle the climate crisis</a>.</p>
<p>It will take <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9e832c8a-8961-11ea-a109-483c62d17528">government investment</a> to accelerate a green transformation of the economy, so that energy, heating and transport systems can reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible. So how could some of that money be raised?</p>
<p>A recent example from France shows exactly how not to do it. A fuel tax hike by Emmanuel Macron’s government – intended to nudge people to use less petrol, diesel and heating oil – <a href="https://theconversation.com/emmanuel-macrons-carbon-tax-sparked-gilets-jaunes-protests-but-popular-climate-policy-is-possible-108437">sparked widespread protests</a> throughout 2018 and 2019. The gilets jaunes (or “yellow vests”) movement tapped into discontent about the rising cost of living, but also a deep resentment that the public were having to shoulder the cost of decarbonisation.</p>
<p>If ordinary people, who have been <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14821">hit hard</a> by the pandemic – and have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51906530">relatively small carbon footprints</a> – are expected to cough up to fund a green economic stimulus, the programme is unlikely to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-the-right-guiding-principles-carbon-taxes-can-work-109328">popular</a>. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/ve-day-16763">75 years on</a> from the UK’s last great recovery effort, it’s worth remembering how Britain pulled together in the past.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333335/original/file-20200507-49565-1db2szl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gilets jaunes protests were sparked by a carbon tax that hit poorer consumers hardest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-france-1st-december-2018-demonstrators-1246504660">Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why should the richest contribute more?</h2>
<p>The UK’s millionaires and billionaires <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Carbon-Inequality-The-Role-of-the-Richest-in-Climate-Change/Kenner/p/book/9780815399223">hold more responsibility</a> for climate change as a result of their lifestyles and investments. <a href="http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/ChancelPiketty2015.pdf">One study</a> estimated that the average greenhouse gas emissions per person of the richest 1% in the UK is equivalent to around 147 tonnes of CO₂, compared to an average of four tonnes for someone in the poorest 10%. One of the reasons that the rich have larger carbon footprints is because they <a href="https://theconversation.com/these-celebrities-cause-10-000-times-more-carbon-emissions-from-flying-than-the-average-person-123886">fly further and more often</a> than the average person. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/these-celebrities-cause-10-000-times-more-carbon-emissions-from-flying-than-the-average-person-123886">These celebrities cause 10,000 times more carbon emissions from flying than the average person</a>
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<p>The richest 1% also invest their wealth in companies whose operations are highly polluting. I created a <a href="http://whygreeneconomy.org/the-polluter-elite-database/">database</a> where I calculated the greenhouse gas emissions connected to the shares held by senior executives and directors at major oil, gas and mining companies. Since I pioneered this methodology, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/green">Bloomberg Green</a>’s work has helped identify the world’s ten richest billionaires whose fortunes help fuel climate change. Warren Buffet – the world’s fourth richest man – owns Berkshire Hathaway, a conglomerate that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-emissions-billionaires/?srnd=green">holds shares</a> in several airlines and energy utilities. According to Bloomberg Green’s analysis, Buffett’s conglomerate “was directly and indirectly responsible for 189 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018”. That’s the same as burning 21 billion gallons of gasoline, or fully charging 24 trillion smartphones.</p>
<p>The UK has a history of making the richest contribute more at a time of national crisis. To fund the war effort and post-war reconstruction after 1945, the UK government <a href="https://election2017.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn25.pdf">raised taxes</a> on income, inheritance and <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/apr/23/purchase-tax">luxury goods</a>, like motor cars. In many ways, carbon inequality was <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Elite-Mobilities-1st-Edition/Birtchnell-Caletrio/p/book/9780415655804">even more pronounced</a> in the early part of the 20th century, as only the richest could afford cars. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333330/original/file-20200507-49542-o4xcxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Car ownership once indicated significant wealth and prestige.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/137713221@N04/24115960511/in/album-72157658692036094/">Crownbrook/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The top marginal income tax rate went up from 75% in 1938 <a href="http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014TechnicalAppendix.pdf">to 98%</a> in 1941, and it stayed at this level until 1952, only dropping below 89% in 1978. The top inheritance tax rate went up from 50% in 1938 <a href="http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014TechnicalAppendix.pdf">to 65%</a> during the war, and it increased to 80% between 1949 and 1968. With that, Britain built a welfare state and the NHS.</p>
<p>In 2020, income tax on those earning over £150,000 <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882269/Table-a2.pdf">is 45%</a>, while inheritance tax <a href="https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax">is set at 40%</a>. Since millions of working people have been pushed <a href="https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/media/press-releases/millions-facing-financial-cliff-edge-when-coronavirus-protections-end2/">into unemployment and debt</a> by the pandemic, they should be the first to get help. </p>
<h2>A bailout for workers</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/oil-price-futures-markets-warn-it-wont-recover-after-coronavirus-137556">global collapse in demand for oil</a> has <a href="https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/237706/up-to-30k-oil-industry-jobs-could-be-wiped-out-due-to-covid-19-energy-sector-impact-oguk-report-warns/">cost thousands of people their jobs</a> in the North Sea oil and gas sector. Around <a href="https://oilandgasuk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/OGUK-Business-Outlook-2020-Security-of-Supply.pdf">270,000 people</a> depend on this industry – that’s a lot of people facing an uncertain future. But their skills could be redeployed for better purposes.</p>
<p>Starting in the 1970s, the UK government enabled the extraction of oil and gas in the North Sea through massive incentives and investment, and it continues to incentivise extraction through tax breaks. The same could be done for offshore wind energy, which is already well established.</p>
<p>The transferable skills that most workers in the North Sea oil and gas supply chains already have can be used to make the UK a global powerhouse for <a href="https://foe.scot/resource/sea-change-climate-report/">offshore wind energy</a>. For those with specialist skills, retraining could be provided.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333334/original/file-20200507-49569-u3pgt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The future of energy in the North Sea?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wind-farm-north-sea-on-coast-1091969441">Riekelt Hakvoort/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Raising income and inheritance taxes on the richest who have most responsibility for climate change could raise revenue to secure the livelihoods of oil and gas workers, and their grandchildren, by addressing climate change. Just as those with the broadest shoulders were asked to make their contribution to the war effort, so should the wealthiest help communities get back on their feet today.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the pandemic is a national crisis on a par with <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/17/coronavirus-blitz-spirit-uks-sanctions-compare-second-world/">the Second World War</a>. In 2020, people are celebrating the anniversary of VE day during another hour of need. Just as it did 75 years ago, the government should ask those with more resources – and the largest carbon footprints – to contribute more to the country’s green reconstruction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dario Kenner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Just as it did 75 years ago, the UK government has a chance to build back better from a crisis.Dario Kenner, Visiting Fellow, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230622019-10-15T15:35:47Z2019-10-15T15:35:47ZUS green economy growth dwarfs Donald Trump’s highest hopes for the fossil fuel industry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297124/original/file-20191015-98670-1noi5in.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4923%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sun may be setting on the USA's green economy leadership.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/9HEY1URQIQY">Jason Blackeye/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While US President Donald Trump may be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/greta-thunberg-trump-glare-united-nations-climate-change-a9117476.html">“the world’s most powerful climate change denier”</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0329-3">our latest research</a> suggests that he took over over a thriving green economy.</p>
<p>According to new data, by 2016 it was generating more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0329-3">US$1.3 trillion</a> in annual revenue and employed approximately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0329-3">9.5m people</a> – making it the largest green market in the world. It’s been growing rapidly too – between 2013 and 2016, both the industry’s value and employment figures grew by 20%.</p>
<p>For some time, economic data on the green economy in many countries <a href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/geo2.36">has been lacking</a>. In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stopped measuring jobs in the green economy in March 2013 due to budget cuts. This meant that US politicians were not able to make informed decisions about the relative merits of supporting green industry or backing fossil fuels – as Trump <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170218180618/https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/an-america-first-energy-plan">had pledged to do</a> on his 2016 campaign trail.</p>
<p>To fill this knowledge gap, we analysed massive databases to record the latest available business transactions from every country in the world. We estimated sales revenue and employment figures across 24 economic sub-sectors covering renewable energy, environmental protection, and low carbon goods and services – collectively termed the green economy. We used this same standardised method across all countries, allowing us to make meaningful comparisons between them.</p>
<p>Our study estimates that revenue in the global green economy was $7.87 trillion in 2016. At $1.3 trillion, the US <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0329-3">made up 16.5%</a> of the global market – the largest in the world.</p>
<p>Our analysis also suggests that in the US, nearly ten times more people were employed in the green economy and its supply chains (9.5m) than employed directly in the fossil fuel industry (roughly 1m) – that is, miners, electricity grid workers, infrastructure manufacturers and construction workers. This wide gap comes despite the US fossil fuel industry receiving huge subsidies, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/06/15/united-states-spend-ten-times-more-on-fossil-fuel-subsidies-than-education/#1ec4d0044735">estimated at $649 billion in 2015</a> alone.</p>
<h2>America first?</h2>
<p>Importantly, the green economy has been growing faster than Trump’s wildest dreams for the fossil fuel industry. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump set out his <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170218180618/https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/an-america-first-energy-plan">“America first” energy policy</a>, promising to add 400,000 new jobs to the fossil fuel industry. During the campaign, he suggested that he could increase the industry’s economic output by $700bn over 30 years.</p>
<p>Our data indicates that the green economy grew by over $60bn per year 2013 and 2016. This dwarfs Trump’s best hopes for growth in the fossil fuel industry, which equate to an annual increase in value of $23bn.</p>
<p>Employment in the US green economy also grew by the equivalent of 1.5m full-time jobs during this time, whereas coal mining jobs <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2017/01/f34/2017%20US%20Energy%20and%20Jobs%20Report_0.pdf">declined by 37,000</a> over the same period.</p>
<h2>A precarious position</h2>
<p>These are strong numbers. But after three years of faltering support, the US’s position as a world leader in the green economy is precarious.</p>
<p>Up to now, Trump’s campaign rhetoric has not been backed up by major policy changes, although his rollback of a number of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html">Obama era regulations</a> has likely helped the fossil fuel industry in the short term. But unlike Trump, competing superpowers are <a href="https://grist.org/briefly/china-plans-to-create-13-million-clean-energy-jobs-by-2020/">strongly backing renewables</a>.</p>
<p>China, for example, has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/donald-trump-success-helps-china-emerge-as-global-climate-leader">emerged as a global climate leader</a> in the wake of Trump’s determination to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44330709">pull out of the Paris Agreement</a>. In 2017, it announced plans to invest <a href="https://grist.org/briefly/china-plans-to-create-13-million-clean-energy-jobs-by-2020/">USD$361 billion</a> in clean energy by 2020 to generate 13 million jobs. This investment alone could go a long way to closing the gap between the value of the US’s green economy and that of China’s, the second largest in the world. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-japans-renewables-powered-olympics-could-kick-off-a-global-race-for-clean-energy-115997">Other countries are also poised</a> to overtake the US in the race to shape the global green economy.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-japans-renewables-powered-olympics-could-kick-off-a-global-race-for-clean-energy-115997">How Japan's renewables-powered Olympics could kick off a global race for clean energy</a>
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<p>The Green New Deal – <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-green-new-deal-is-already-changing-the-terms-of-the-climate-action-debate-112144">popularised by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others</a> – is an ambitious policy agenda that could reestablish the US’s commitment to the green economy. It proposes massive investment in renewable energy and an environment-friendly public works programme of gargantuan scale. Phasing out direct fossil fuel subsides could <a href="https://theconversation.com/america-can-afford-a-green-new-deal-heres-how-111681">free up some of the funding required</a> for such investment.</p>
<p>It’s not for us to say whether the Green New Deal is right for the US. But what <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0329-3">our data</a> does say loud and clear is this: if you want a strong economy that supports thousands of new jobs, then supporting its green quarters is essential. And of course, it will help our imperiled living planet too.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1123062">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucien Georgeson has previously received grant funding from the ESRC and NERC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Maslin is a Founding Director of Rezatec Ltd, Director of The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership and a member of Cheltenham Science Festival Advisory Committee. He is an unpaid member of the Sopra-Steria CSR Board. He has received grant funding in the past from the NERC, EPSRC, ESRC, Royal Society, DIFD, DECC, FCO, Innovate UK, Carbon Trust, UK Space Agency, European Space Agency, Wellcome Trust, Leverhulme Trust and British Council. He has received research funding in the past from The Lancet, Laithwaites, Seventh Generation, Channel 4, JLT Re, WWF, Hermes, CAFOD and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. </span></em></p>The US President pledged ambitious growth in the fossil fuel industry on his 2016 campaign trail – but new data shows that the green economy was already growing almost three times as fast.Lucien Georgeson, Researcher, Green Economy and Sustainable Development, UCLMark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1155682019-05-27T19:42:51Z2019-05-27T19:42:51ZChina succeeds in greening its economy not because, but in spite of, its authoritarian government<p>From an <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-can-learn-from-chinas-fight-against-environmental-ruin-99681">appalling environmental scorecard</a> 20 years ago, China has pioneered a “<a href="https://www.globalgreenshift.org/">global green shift</a>” towards renewable energy and recycling. The country’s drive to dominate renewables manufacturing benefits both China and the world, by sending <a href="https://www.worldenergy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/1.-World-Energy-Issues-Monitor-2019-Interactive-Full-Report.pdf">technology prices plummeting</a>. </p>
<p>Many have attributed this success to China’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-11/china-abolishes-presidential-term-limits/9537166">authoritarian political regime</a>. </p>
<p>Unlike a democracy, this line of reasoning goes, the state can override special interest groups or opposition parties to impose “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/app5.217">authoritarian environmentalism</a>”. This allows a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09644016.2012.651904?needAccess=true">rapid and encompassing response</a> to severe environmental threats.</p>
<p>We take a different view. As the chief investigators on an Australia Research Council Discovery Project examining <a href="http://www.dev-env.org/">East Asia’s clean energy shift</a>, we are examining why and how some East Asian countries – including China – are pursuing ambitious renewable energy transformations, and what Australia might learn from these countries’ experiences.</p>
<p>We argue China’s success in greening and growing its economy is not because, but in spite of, its authoritarian government.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-can-learn-from-chinas-fight-against-environmental-ruin-99681">What we can learn from China’s fight against environmental ruin</a>
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<h2>Not that different</h2>
<p>China’s approach to greening shares much in common with democratic countries such as Germany, South Korea and Taiwan. All have ambitious programs to rapidly build domestic clean energy industries and “green” their power generation.</p>
<p>As such, our project emphasises the link between China’s green shift and what we call “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0032329215571287">developmental environmentalism</a>”. </p>
<p>Developmental environmentalism refers to a state approaching greening as an opportunity to promote national techno-economic competitiveness. It helps explain both the drivers of the green shift and the means of its execution.</p>
<p>The “means” are less about authoritarianism and more about the state’s capacity to induce the private sector into a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Powerless-Cornell-Studies-Political-Economy/dp/0801485436">cooperative relationship</a>.</p>
<p>This type of negotiated relationship between the state and industry is the exact opposite of authoritarianism, which pursues its goals irrespective of the wishes of the private sector. Indeed, the pages of history tell us authoritarian leaders are far more likely to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315808523_Wither_Developmentalism_after_Democratisation">misuse their concentrated economic power</a>, resulting in developmental failure.</p>
<h2>Democratic successes</h2>
<p>China is not alone in its green shift. In fact, some of the world’s most ambitious national greening programs have sprung to life in democratic settings.</p>
<h3>Germany</h3>
<p>The clearest example is Germany and its widely admired <a href="https://www.cleanenergywire.org/easyguide"><em>Energiewende</em></a> (“energy transition”). Germany took an early lead in the development of solar devices through government-sponsored industrial programs. </p>
<p>Then in 2011, in the wake of the Fukishima nuclear disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the shutdown of Germany’s nuclear power stations. </p>
<p>Countries around the world are now emulating Germany’s <em>Energiewende</em>. </p>
<h3>South Korea</h3>
<p>In one of East Asia’s most vibrant democracies, South Korea, the election of President Lee Myung-bak in 2008 signalled a shift from intensive fossil-fuel development to “<a href="http://www.greengrowthknowledge.org/resource/achieving-%E2%80%9Clow-carbon-green-growth%E2%80%9D-vision-korea">low-carbon, green growth</a>”.</p>
<p>Lee’s focus was on greening the economy by investing in renewables and related infrastructure such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2018.1554540?af=R">smart grids</a>. His successor in 2013, President Park Geun-hye, continued this approach. </p>
<p>Finally, after President Moon Jae-in swept into power in 2017, South Korea committed to <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/south-korea-taiwan-end-nuclear-power-by-sung-young-kim-and-john-a--mathews-2017-08?barrier=accesspaylog">scaling down</a> its use of nuclear energy.</p>
<h3>Taiwan</h3>
<p>Taiwan provides another fascinating example of a proudly democratic country that has followed in Germany’s footsteps. National efforts to establish a renewables industry <a href="https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=44&post=10946">began in 2009</a> under President Ma Ying-jeou. These initiatives targeted various clean energy industries for promotion, including generating solar and wind facilities and batteries. </p>
<p>However, just like <a href="https://apjjf.org/2016/24/Kim.html">Korea</a>, the country’s over-reliance on nuclear energy (facilitated by a state-owned monopoly in the power sector) <a href="https://apjjf.org/-John_A_-Mathews/3954">prevented</a> the growth of a market for renewables. </p>
<p>A breakthrough in the country’s highly contentious debate over nuclear energy came with the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, who committed to the complete <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/south-korea-taiwan-end-nuclear-power-by-sung-young-kim-and-john-a--mathews-2017-08?barrier=accesspaylog">shutdown</a> of nuclear reactors in the country.</p>
<h2>Developmental environmentalism in action</h2>
<p>These examples provide a clue that China’s ability to green its economy stems from something other than its authoritarian political system. We argue China’s success in greening stems from developmental environmentalism in action. </p>
<p>This does not simply mean a state that is “pro-development” and “pro-environment”. Rather, policymakers see greening the economy as chance to gain a competitive edge over other countries. The pursuit of strategic industry development goals involves nurturing – not displacing, as would occur in an authoritarian setting – “governed interdependence” with the private sector.</p>
<p>Best depicted by the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0032329215571287">Korean</a> example, developmental environmentalism as a policy initially emerged as a response to threats to national industrial competitiveness. These included acute dependence on fossil-fuel imports, which are highly volatile, and global competitive pressures in the race to gain an early lead in the green economy.</p>
<p>Developmental environmentalism is also a strategic response to domestic challenges, such as the need to drive new sources of economic growth.</p>
<h2>Lessons for Australia</h2>
<p>If an authoritarian government provides little to no advantage for coordinating a green shift, what lessons might these countries have for Australian policymakers? </p>
<p>The key lesson is it’s not about designing the perfect constellation of policies or about pouring more money into entire industries. </p>
<p>Developmental environmentalism involves the political will to take big risks. Policymakers must target technologies – or segments of the economy – where government support could build national competitiveness. </p>
<p>Of course, this means creating a strategic, long-term approach to industry development, coordinated with the private sector. </p>
<p>Despite political gridlock, Australia is well placed to establish a foothold in the rapidly growing clean energy industry.</p>
<p>As the nation’s leaders engage in a fruitless debate over <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-07/new-coal-fired-plan-in-nsw-hunter-valley-reignite-climate-wars/10877470">building new coal-fired power stations</a>, Australian companies with world-class strengths in clean energies are emerging. Nowhere is this growing confidence more evident than in the <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/2814/Microgrids%20Smart%20Grids%20and%20Energy%20Storage%20Solutions.pdf.aspx">blossoming</a> of companies that have commercially ready smart microgrid and energy-storage solutions.</p>
<p>It would be a great shame – if not a national tragedy – if these companies were allowed to be picked off one by one by foreign multinational enterprises. This is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/wake-up-australia-and-take-a-lesson-on-solar-from-korea-6245">sad and familiar story of Australian manufacturing</a>: highly innovative companies – a testament to our wealth of knowledge – are bought out, intellectual property rights absorbed, and manufacturing eventually outsourced. Often, shells of our prized national assets (typically the marketing and sales divisions) are all that remain.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wake-up-australia-and-take-a-lesson-on-solar-from-korea-6245">Wake up Australia, and take a lesson on solar from Korea</a>
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<p>Yet, in the absence of a coordinated national strategy that focuses on building a national value chain or ecosystem of upstream and downstream players – as the Koreans and Taiwanese have done in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2018.1554540?af=R&">smart microgrids</a> – this future appears all but settled.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sung-Young Kim receives funding from ARC Discovery Project DP190103669 "East Asia's Clean Energy Shift: Enablers, Obstacles, Outcomes, Lessons". </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Thurbon receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS). She is affiliated with the Jubilee Australia Research Centre (JARC) and Reinvent Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hao Tan receives funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project 2019-2021; and previously received funding from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia under the Australia-China (CASS) Joint Action Program and from the Confucius Institute Headquarters under the "Understanding China Fellowship" in 2017.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Mathews receives funding from
ARC Discovery Project DP190103669'</span></em></p>China is rapidly greening its economy, but that doesn’t mean authoritarian governments are best placed to handle climate change.Sung-Young Kim, Lecturer in the Department of Modern History, Politics & International Relations, Macquarie UniversityElizabeth Thurbon, Scientia Fellow and Associate Professor in International Relations / International Political Economy, UNSW SydneyHao Tan, Associate professor, University of NewcastleJohn Mathews, Professor of Strategic Management, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1116812019-02-26T11:41:09Z2019-02-26T11:41:09ZAmerica can afford a Green New Deal – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260789/original/file-20190225-26159-adqxd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Critics say the U.S. can't afford a Green New Deal.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Election-2020-Green-New-Dea/7640a10276b444eca40160377c5ad766/15/0">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey are calling for a <a href="https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/sites/ocasio-cortez.house.gov/files/Resolution%20on%20a%20Green%20New%20Deal.pdf">“Green New Deal”</a> that would involve massive government spending to shift the U.S. economy away from its reliance on carbon. </p>
<p>Their congressional resolution goes into great detail about the harms of climate change and what the U.S. government should do about it. Left unanswered, however, is how America would pay for it.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/we-cant-afford-the-green-new-deal/">Some commentators</a> have been calling a Green New Deal unaffordable, with some estimates putting the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-25/group-sees-ocasio-cortez-s-green-new-deal-costing-93-trillion">bill for complete decarbonization at as high as US$12.3 trillion</a>. </p>
<p>As the author of the United Nations Environment Program’s <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/global-green-new-deal/A46C5F39C7A8B8F87B7B4AC8E8855BC4#fndtn-contents">Global Green New Deal</a> – a plan to lift the world economy out of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/great-recession-13707">2008-2009 Great Recession</a> – I disagree. I believe there are two straightforward ways to cover the cost and help accelerate the green revolution, while lowering the overall price tag. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260792/original/file-20190225-26171-ka4mw1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocates for the Green New Deal.</span>
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<h2>What a green new deal may cost</h2>
<p>Before we talk about how to pay for it, first we need a rough idea of how much it might actually cost. </p>
<p>For starters, it’s important to be realistic. Rather than putting a price tag on going 100 percent renewable – which would take decades – I believe we should figure out how much to spend over the next five years to build a greener economy.</p>
<p>Ambitious efforts to foster green energy during the Great Recession are a good place to start.</p>
<p>In total, the <a href="https://g20.org/en/">world’s largest 20 economies</a> and a few others spent $3.3 trillion to stimulate economic growth. Of that, <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cpp.2015-017">more than $520 billion was devoted</a> to “<a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/477/Green_Stimulus_During_the_Great_Recession_2008-9.xlsx?1550172536">green investments</a>,” such as pollution cleanup, recycling and low-carbon energy. </p>
<p>The U.S. share of that was about $120 billion, or about 1 percent of its gross domestic product. Around half of this went toward energy conservation and other short-term energy efficiency investments to quickly shore up the then-nascent recovery and generate employment. </p>
<p>The stimulus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.10.060">may have spurred some growth in renewable energy</a> but didn’t do much on its own to reduce carbon emissions permanently. </p>
<p>Another country that made fairly big green investments during the Great Recession was South Korea, which promoted “low carbon, green growth” as its new long-term development vision. It <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cpp.2015-017">allocated $60 billion</a>, or 5 percent of its 2007 GDP, to a five-year plan.</p>
<p>But in the end, South Korea <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615011518">may have spent only $26 billion</a> on low-carbon energy and failed to adopt pricing reforms and other incentives to foster renewables, such as phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, pricing carbon and improving regulatory frameworks. The result <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.335">was only a modest improvement</a> in energy efficiency, and carbon emissions have continued to rise.</p>
<p>In other words, the price tag of a Green New Deal that would make a difference would have to be much higher than what governments like the U.S. and Korea actually spent during the Great Recession. The original South Korea five-year plan, however, to spend 5 percent of GDP to me seems about right, as the best guess of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615011518">the public investment needed</a> to decarbonize a major economy through a green growth strategy. </p>
<p>So if we use Korea as a starting point, that means the U.S. would need to spend around $970 billion over the next five years, or $194 billion annually. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260791/original/file-20190225-26174-1xru2oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Another romantic sunset ruined by smog.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/plant-emits-smoke-smog-pipes-sunset-1117595441?src=cX82YoPq-MbybnqXLNccFQ-1-1">Artic_photo/shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>How to pay for the Green New Deal</h2>
<p>As for paying for it, the first thing to bear in mind is that in my view a Green New Deal should be covered by current rather than future revenue. </p>
<p>A common way for Congress to pay for the <a href="https://www.thebalance.com/deficit-spending-causes-why-it-s-out-of-control-3306289">cost of a new program or stimulus</a> is by deficit spending. So the U.S. borrows the money from investors and then eventually has to pay it back through taxes down the road. </p>
<p>With the federal deficit <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/397445-white-house-budget-projects-1-trillion-deficit-in-2019">projected to reach</a> $1 trillion in 2019, increasing it by several hundred billion more – even if for a good cause – is not a great idea. Ballooning deficits add to the national debt, which is <a href="http://www.usdebtclock.org">already $21 trillion</a> and counting.</p>
<p>Saddling future generations of Americans with unsustainable levels of national debt is just as dangerous as burdening them with an economy that is environmentally unsustainable. Deficit spending is warranted to boost overall demand for goods and services when unemployment rises, consumers do not spend and private investment is down. When that is not the case, I believe efforts to grow green sectors should pay for themselves.</p>
<p>So the U.S. would have to find new revenue sources to finance additional government support for clean energy research and development, greening infrastructure, smart transmission grids, public transport and other programs under any Green New Deal. Two of the main ways to do that would be by raising new revenues or finding savings elsewhere in the budget. </p>
<p>On the revenue side, I believe passing a carbon tax is one of the best ways to go. <a href="https://www.resourcesmag.org/common-resources/introducing-the-e3-carbon-tax-calculator-estimating-future-co2-emissions-and-revenues/">A $20 tax per metric ton of carbon</a> that climbs over time at a pace slightly higher than inflation would raise around $96 billion in revenue each year – covering just under half the estimated cost. At the same time, it would reduce carbon emissions by 11.1 billion metric tons through 2030. </p>
<p>In other words, not only does it help raise money to pay for a transition to a green economy, a carbon tax also helps spur that very change. </p>
<p>In terms of savings, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies is a particularly appropriate target. Consumer subsidies for fossil fuels and producer subsidies for coal <a href="https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/cpp.2015-017">cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $9 billion a year</a>. These subsidies could be shifted instead to cover some expenditures under a Green New Deal. </p>
<p>And again, doing this would accelerate the transition to cleaner energy. </p>
<p>So where might the other $89 billion come from? </p>
<p>One option is to simply impose a higher carbon tax. A $20 tax would put the U.S. <a href="https://www.carbonpricingleadership.org/who">roughly in the middle</a> among countries that currently impose carbon taxes. But <a href="https://www.resourcesmag.org/common-resources/introducing-the-e3-carbon-tax-calculator-estimating-future-co2-emissions-and-revenues/">doubling it to $40 per ton</a> would raise an additional $76 billion annually, or $172 billion in total, as well as reduce 17.5 billion metric tons of carbon by 2030. </p>
<p>Another idea is to raise taxes on the highest-earning Americans. For example, imposing a 70 percent tax on earnings of $10 million or more would bring in <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2019/jan/08/explaining-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-70-percent-ta/">an addtional $72 billion a year</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260794/original/file-20190225-26152-1w14v3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wind energy is one solution to the climate problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-solar-panels-wind-turbine-field-164853542?src=xSlso4It9ZC1uDuI00-iDg-1-43">KENNY TONG/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cost savings</h2>
<p>But it’s also possible that the cost of decarbonizing the economy may fall over time. </p>
<p>For example, the drop in emissions accompanying the carbon tax <a href="https://www.resourcesmag.org/common-resources/introducing-the-e3-carbon-tax-calculator-estimating-future-co2-emissions-and-revenues/">should lower the price tag</a> in a way that’s hard to estimate today. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07845-5">right policies</a> and reforms would also help lower the costs. </p>
<p>In a sort of “chicken and egg” effect, as economists <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.32.4.53">Ken Gillingham and James Stock have shown</a>, green innovations spur demand, which leads to more innovation, all of which ultimately reduce costs. A good illustration is purchases of electric vehicles, which will stimulate demand for charging stations. Once installed, the stations will reduce the costs of running electric vehicles and further boost demand.</p>
<p>The Green New Deal as proposed by Ocasio-Cortez and Markey would be expensive. But what policies are adopted and how we choose to pay for it could ultimately determine the plan’s success and whether we can afford it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edward Barbier does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Democrats such as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Markey are proposing an ambitious decarbonization plan that critics are calling unaffordable. A green economist explains how the US could pay for it.Edward Barbier, Professor of Economics, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824012017-09-05T09:31:03Z2017-09-05T09:31:03ZCosta Rica’s Banco Popular shows how banks can be democratic, green – and financially sustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184529/original/file-20170904-17912-puiaxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Marois</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A decade on from the 2007-08 global financial crisis, the majority of private banks <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-reshape-the-financial-system-first-ditch-the-idea-of-the-free-market-80908">have changed very little</a>. Most remain solely concerned with maximising their returns, while sustainable or social goals remain subservient to this. For conventional economists, anything else remains an impossible or distant dream.</p>
<p>But there is hope for a different kind of bank – one that is run democratically and with sustainable principles at its core. Costa Rica’s cooperative Banco Popular and of Communal Development (or BPDC) illustrates a viable and desirable alternative to the average private bank. While not without its own challenges, it offers a number of lessons for the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Banco Popular was established in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49G4q8lkcq4&feature=youtu.be">1969 by the Costa Rican government</a> to promote economic development. The bank emerged from a tradition of <a href="http://www.nacion.com/ocio/artes/Nuevo-repasa-revoluciones-sociales-ticas_0_1441255877.html">solidarity</a>, and continues to reflect that today. Its mission is to serve the social and sustainable welfare of Costa Ricans. </p>
<p>BPDC is a distinctive, public-like cooperative bank that is worker-owned and controlled. Any worker holding a savings account for over a year has the right to share ownership in it. It combines commercial and developmental functions with clients that include workers, peasants, micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as communal, cooperative, and municipal development associations. </p>
<p>Since 2000, the bank has grown into a large financial conglomerate (Costa Rica’s third largest bank), offering the gamut of banking, pension, stock market, investment and insurance services. It has 103 branches nationwide and employs 4,300 people. Assets exceeded US$5.4 billion in 2016 with a net income of US$68m. Its <a href="https://orbisbanks.bvdinfo.com/version-2017420/Report.serv?_CID=792&context=1SBI6S6TVJPXTHO">return on assets averages around 1.5%</a>, showing high returns for a retail bank. </p>
<p>The bank benefits from a unique form of permanent capitalisation: employers contribute 0.5% and workers 1% of their monthly wages to it. After a year, 1.25% of these “obligatory savings” are transferred to each worker’s individual pension fund. The BPDC keeps the remaining 0.25% as a capital contribution.</p>
<p>The BPDC qualitatively differs from typical private banks. Its <a href="https://www.bancopopular.fi.cr/BPOP/getmedia/4fc9f0eb-f8c3-4d14-88e1-76cfc2877d0b/Reporte-de-Sostenibilidad-Conglomerado-Financiero-Banco-Popular-2016;">current mandate</a> incorporates a triple bottom line: the economic; the environmental; and the social. Earning financial returns is placed on a par with serving the environmental and social good.</p>
<h2>Democratic decision-making</h2>
<p>The BPDC is perhaps the most democratic bank in the world. It has a workers’ assembly as its highest governing body which represents the 1.2m workers-cum-savers serviced by the bank (20% of the population). The assembly is made up of 290 representatives selected from a wide range of <a href="https://www.bancopopular.fi.cr/BPOP/Nosotros/Asamblea-de-Trabajadores/Sectores-Sociales.aspx">social and economic sectors</a>. It gives strategic direction to the bank’s board of directors, which is composed of four members from the assembly and three from the government.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184541/original/file-20170904-31235-cyl00e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Popular consultation is a crucial part of the bank’s decision-making process. Its <a href="https://www.bancopopular.fi.cr/BPOP/getmedia/302d558a-3b0a-4cc0-bbb3-5421c3d939d4/08-Gobierno-Corporativo-JDN-2016-(version-FINAL-30-03-2017);">2017-2020 strategic plan</a> was informed by a three-year nationwide consultation, which reached nearly 1,500 participants across 11 regions.</p>
<p>The bank also puts a strong emphasis on gender equity. So at least 50% of the bank’s board must be women, earning the bank the distinction of being the first public organisation in Central America to establish at least 50% women in its decision-making bodies. The bank also has a Permanent Women’s Commission that makes gender equality a priority across the conglomerate.</p>
<p>What the BPDC is has much to do with its makeup.</p>
<h2>Acting sustainability</h2>
<p>The Banco Popular did not start out very green. But it has become a defining characteristic since 2014 when the left-leaning Citizens’ Action Party came to power and focused on making the economy <a href="http://www.unrisd.org/thinkpiece-utting2">promote social and environmental good</a>, as opposed to pure profit. </p>
<p>The bank has since developed speciality lending products, like eco-savings and eco-credits to help businesses fund more environmentally friendly projects. For example, earlier this year the bank helped finance the purchase and installation of residential solar energy panels. </p>
<p>On the developmental side, the BPDC supports local communal associations to provide sustainable water supply systems. It also works with regional energy cooperatives to finance everything from hydroelectric energy generation and energy-efficiency retrofitting, to conservation projects involving vulnerable nature areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184513/original/file-20170904-16064-913a26.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A national park reclamation project part-financed by Banco Popular.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Marois</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bank has also started to green itself. It tracks its own consumption of energy, strategises how to reduce its carbon impact, and reports this annually following the international, independent <a href="http://www.globalreporting.org">Global Reporting Initiative</a>. The bank’s pensions division has been certified as “carbon neutral” for four years running. </p>
<h2>Room for improvement</h2>
<p>Clearly, there is much to commend the Banco Popular as a model of alternative banking. But it is not perfect. Since its inception nearly 50 years ago, the bank has been the object of intense political power struggles and it came close to near collapse during the 1980s. Calls to privatise it are ever-present. </p>
<p>The struggle over effective control rages. Should the BPDC move towards complete worker control of its board or maintain continued government oversight, but with greater popular representation? The problem goes to the heart of how the public interest can and should be democratically represented in the bank.</p>
<p>Operationally, the Bank’s green portfolio needs expanding to be more sustainable. This will demand innovative thinking around green projects that have some kind of financial return. But how its green impact is practically measured has yet to be resolved.</p>
<p>Finally, there are burning strategic questions. The BPDC is relatively profitable. From a solidarity perspective, is this socially justifiable? Still, earning good returns enables the bank to fund more social projects through its subsidiary <a href="https://www.bancopopular.fi.cr/BPOP/Banca-Social">Social Bank</a>. Some might argue that the whole of the bank’s operations be geared towards this.</p>
<p>These hitches of governance, greenness and socialness are important, but the beauty of the BPDC is that they are resolvable within the democratic processes of the bank and Costa Rican society. For those banking on alternatives to the private profit-maximising dogma of most banks, the Banco Popular offers hope and direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Marois received funding in part from Transnational Institute, Amsterdam. </span></em></p>There is hope for a different kind of bank – that serves the public and shareholder good.Thomas Marois, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/803032017-07-03T14:17:50Z2017-07-03T14:17:50ZClimate and the G20 summit: some progress in greening economies, but more needs to be done<p>On July 7, G20 leaders will gather in Hamburg for their annual meeting. One likely outcome: another clash over climate change between the host government, Germany, and United States president Donald Trump.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://oecdinsights.org/2016/09/06/assess-chinas-g20-presidency/">the Chinese did last year</a>, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel <a href="http://newsroom.unfccc.int/unfccc-newsroom/germany-makes-climate-action-key-focus-of-g20-presidency/">has prioritised climate on the G20 agenda</a>, just when the US administration is rolling back many environmental policies. </p>
<p>President Trump has announced that he wants his country to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-rally-around-the-paris-deal-a-reminder-that-global-problems-can-have-local-solutions-79978">leave the Paris agreement</a>, saying that the international accord is <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/01/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord">unfair to the US</a>.</p>
<h2>A report to evaluate progress</h2>
<p>The question of what is fair in climate politics is hugely important.</p>
<p>Trump’s definition of fairness – “America First” – is probably not mutually acceptable to most other nations. But countries will hesitate to scale up their ambitions unless they are convinced that others are doing their fair share.</p>
<p>To address this question, we have put together our third annual stocktake on their progress in a report – coordinated by the global consortium Climate Transparency – that determines <a href="http://www.climate-transparency.org/g20-climate-performance/g20report2017">how far the G20 has come</a> in shifting from fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy. </p>
<p>The report, compiled with 13 partners from 11 countries, draws on a wide spectrum of published information in four main areas (emissions, policy performance, finance and decarbonisation) and presents it concisely, enabling comparison between these 20 countries as they shift from dirty “brown” economies to clean “green” ones.</p>
<p>The G20 is crucial to international action on climate change. Together, member states account for <a href="https://www.cfr.org/report/global-climate-change-regime">75% of global greenhouse gas emissions</a> and, in 2014, accounted for about <a href="https://www.iea.org/topics/engagementworldwide/subtopics/co-operationwithkeyinternationalfora/g20/">82% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions</a>. </p>
<p>All member countries signed on to the 2015 Paris agreement, with its long-term temperature goals of keeping global warming to <a href="https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_english_.pdf">below 2˚C, ideally limiting it 1.5˚C.</a>. </p>
<p>The G20 have also proven to be a nimble policy forum, where soft policy making can happen. And there is less concern than in the past that the group would seek to <a href="http://www.stanleyfoundation.org/publications/pab/jones_pab_410.pdf">replace</a> the multilateral process.</p>
<p>This means these governments must lead the way in decarbonising their economies and building a low-carbon future. </p>
<h2>The beginning of a transition</h2>
<p>According to the Climate Transparency report, the G20 countries are using their energy more efficiently, and using cleaner energy sources. Their economies have also grown, proving that economic growth can be decoupled from greenhouse gas emissions. </p>
<p>So we are beginning to see a transition from brown to green. But the report also reveals that the transition is too slow; it does not go deep enough to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals. </p>
<p>In half of the G20 countries, <a href="https://www.pik-potsdam.de/research/climate-impacts-and-vulnerabilities/research/rd2-flagship-projects/gia/primap/primap">greenhouse gas emissions per capita are no longer rising</a>. A notable exception is Japan, where emissions per person are <a href="http://climateactiontracker.org/countries/japan.html">ticking upward</a>. </p>
<p>Canada has the highest energy use per capita, followed by Saudi Arabia, Australia and the US. </p>
<p>India, Indonesia and South Africa all have low energy use per capita (India’s per capita rate is one-eighth that of Canada). Poverty in these countries can only be addressed if people have access to more energy. </p>
<p>Today, renewable energy is increasingly the cheapest option. Still, we found that many G20 countries are meeting their increasing energy needs with coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://climateactiontracker.org/assets/publications/briefing_papers/CAT_Coal_Gap_Briefing_COP21.pdf">the Climate Action Tracker</a>, which monitors progress toward the Paris agreement’s temperature goals, coal should be phased out globally by 2050 at the latest. </p>
<p>Between 2013 and 2014, the G20 countries’ public finance institutions - including national and international development banks, majority state-owned banks and export credit agencies - spent <a href="https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9957.pdf">an average of almost US$88 billion a year</a> on coal, oil and gas.</p>
<p>Yet many of the G20 countries are now looking at phasing out coal, including Canada, France and the UK, which have all established a plan to do so. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176494/original/file-20170701-22491-m7bcs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coal power remains an important source of energy in some G20 countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Germany, Italy and Mexico, too, are considering reducing their use of coal or have taken significant action to do so. <a href="https://www.citylab.com/tech/2017/05/will-india-ever-need-another-coal-plant/528111/">India</a> and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2017/05/15/432141/everything-think-know-coal-china-wrong/">China</a> continue to be highly dependent on coal but have recently closed and scaled back plans for a number of coal plants. </p>
<p>Countries at the bottom of the rankings are Japan, Indonesia and Turkey, all of which have substantial coal-plant construction plans, and Australia. </p>
<h2>Subsidies</h2>
<p>Despite their repeated commitment to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, the G20 countries are <a href="http://www.iisd.org/sites/default/files/publications/zombie-energy-climate-benefits-ending-subsidies-fossil-fuel-production.pdf">still heavily subsidising fossil fuels</a>. In 2014, together, the G20 provided a total of over US$230 billion in subsidies to coal, oil and gas. </p>
<p>Japan and China provided, respectively, about $US19 billion and $US17 billion a year in public finance for fossil fuels between 2013 and 2014.</p>
<p>There is good news, though: renewable energy is on <a href="http://www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/Perspectives_for_the_Energy_Transition_2017.pdf">the rise</a>. The G20 countries are already home to 98% of all installed wind power capacity in the world, 97% of solar power and 93% of electric vehicles.</p>
<p>In most G20 countries, renewables are a growing segment of the electricity supply, except in Russia, where absolute renewable energy consumption has decreased by 20% since 2009. China, the Republic of Korea and the UK have all seen strong growth.</p>
<p>Generally, the G20 countries are attractive for renewable energy investment, especially China, France, Germany and the UK – although the UK has now abandoned its policy support for renewables.</p>
<p>National experts asked by <a href="https://germanwatch.org/en/12978">Germanwatch</a>, a Climate Transparency partner, generally agree that their respective G20 country is doing quite well on the international stage (with the exception of the US) but lack progress in ambitious targets and policy implementation. </p>
<p>China, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Mexico and South Africa are ranked the highest for climate action. Countries with the lowest climate policy performance are the US, Australia, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.</p>
<h2>Dealing with global data</h2>
<p>Putting together this G20 stocktake has had its challenges. The choice of indicators involves value judgements, which often become only apparent once national experts begin discussing them.</p>
<p>Enabling the international comparisons necessary to measure progress on climate requires information that is accurate, verifiable and comparable. The underlying data comes from very diverse economies with different legal systems, different regulations and reporting methods.</p>
<p>International organisations, such as the <a href="https://www.iea.org/">International Energy Agency</a>, have often done extensive and very careful work to develop comparable data sets but these may not always be consistent with data from in-country sources. Exploring these differences helps us to improve our understanding of the data and the underlying developments.</p>
<p>The existing reporting and review system of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (<a href="http://unfccc.int/2860.php">UNFCCC</a>) is the source of much of the data that makes these comparisons possible. </p>
<p>The real challenge the UNFCCC process faces in the next few years as it finalises the “rule book” for the Paris agreement is how to develop an enhanced transparency system that will be robust and detailed enough to provide the relevant information for its five-yearly assessment of global progress on addressing climate.</p>
<p>Even so, the UNFCCC is constrained by the extent to which countries are able to see beyond their narrow interests. </p>
<p>Independent assessments such as Climate Transparency’s, which remains mindful of different perspectives but is not limited by national interests, can play a vital role in helping to increase the political pressure for effective climate action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80303/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niklas Höhne is also partner at the New Climate Institute, a not-for-profit research institute. He receives funding from governments, foundations, industry associations and NGOs. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Marquard is a full time employee of the Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town, which has received project-based funding from the following organisations: the South African government, the UNFCCC, GIZ, the EU, OECD, UNITAR, UNDP, SA NRF, WWF, Earthlife Africa and the Children's Investment Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Wills is research coordinator at CentroClima/COPPE/UFRJ and managing partner of EOS Strategy, a private consulting company. He also receives funding from CAPES - Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education in Brazil. </span></em></p>An expert report shows that the G20 countries are using their energy more efficiently. But there is still a long way to go.Niklas Höhne, Professor of Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases, Wageningen UniversityAndrew Marquard, Senior Researcher on energy and climate change, University of Cape TownWilliam Wills, Research Coordinator, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/788772017-06-07T01:33:19Z2017-06-07T01:33:19ZPittsburgh: A city of two post-industrial tales<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172539/original/file-20170606-3674-1b0tnua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pittsburgh, between its industrial past and a clean, green tech-driven future.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADowntown_Pittsburgh_from_Duquesne_Incline_in_the_morning.jpg">Dllu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump’s <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/01/politics/trump-paris-climate-decision/index.html">mention of Pittsburgh</a> in his announcement withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate evoked <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/03/what-donald-trump-doesnt-get-about-pittsburgh-215223">the city’s past as an industrial powerhouse</a>. It sparked <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/335994-pittsburgh-mayor-fires-back-at-trump-my-city-will-follow-paris">a furious set of tweets from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto</a>, who promised his city would work to fight climate change. Trump’s statement also drew strong support from local Republican lawmakers who portrayed themselves as <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/06/02/donald-Trump-pittsburgh-paris-climate-agreement-environmentalists/stories/201706020115">standing with “Western Pennsylvania manufacturers, boilermakers, power plant workers … and miners.”</a></p>
<p>The president’s words seem fitting for an administration taking great pains to symbolically and literally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/01/us/politics/trump-overturning-regulations.html">roll back the achievements of its predecessor</a>. In 2009, the Obama administration chose Pittsburgh as the site for the <a href="http://www.g20.pitt.edu/">U.S.-hosted summit of the G-20</a>, a group of governments and central bankers from <a href="https://www.g20.org">20 major world economies</a>. The meeting was in a downtown facility that was the world’s first and largest <a href="http://www.usgbc.org/projects/david-l-lawrence-convention-center-1">Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified convention center</a>. Positive media coverage poured in from around the world, showcasing Pittsburgh’s “<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/pittsburgh-green-idUSN1827474520090920?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10522">green economy</a>” rebirth as a center of clean technology and innovation.</p>
<p>The city took a hard hit in the 1980s <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/03/what-donald-trump-doesnt-get-about-pittsburgh-215223">when corporate and government policies, global economic forces and new technologies</a> resulted in southwestern Pennsylvania’s permanent loss of <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/03/what-donald-trump-doesnt-get-about-pittsburgh-215223">more than 150,000 manufacturing jobs and 176,000 residents</a>. In the decades since, Pittsburgh has used its considerable economic, institutional and political resources to reinvent itself as a center of education, innovation and health care. From 2010 to 2015, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/metro-monitor-2017/">worker productivity shot up 10 percent</a>, average annual wages increased 9 percent and the overall standard of living rose 13 percent in the region.</p>
<p>But the former Steel City’s success has proven to be uneven across racial and class lines. The recovery has also proven difficult to replicate in the former mill towns and outlying rural mining areas that once provided the raw materials upon which its fortunes were made. In my book, “<a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15414.html">Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America</a>,” I take readers on two tours of the region that shed light on the divided responses to Trump’s opposition to the global climate accord.</p>
<h2>The promise of transformation</h2>
<p>On the first tour in my book, we view the history of Pittsburgh through a lens similar to that used by longtime city mayor Richard Caliguiri, who served from 1977 to 1988. For him, for development officials, and for many of the residents employed outside traditional industries, Rust Belt imagery rooted in the dirty, blue-collar mill towns was a barrier to recruiting talent and attracting new businesses.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15414.html">Caliguiri envisioned the city resurrected</a> as a “service and retailing center, a center for health care, a city of transplants, a city of High Technology, a city of Robotics, of computer programming.” Supported by both public and private funds, the business-backed <a href="http://www.alleghenyconference.org/">Allegheny Conference on Community Development</a>, elected officials and leaders of <a href="https://www.cmu.edu/">Carnegie Mellon University</a> and the <a href="https://www.pitt.edu/">University of Pittsburgh</a> set the stage for the “<a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2017/04/13/pittsburgh-housing-buoyed-by-eds-and-meds-study.html">eds and meds</a>” economy for which the city is known today. </p>
<p>Rivers that had served as industrial canals and sewers for more than a century were clean enough to enjoy, helping encourage environmental stewardship. Campaigns to <a href="http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/March-2016/The-Next-Hot-Hoods-in-Pittsburgh/index.php?cparticle=7&fb_comment_id=962531840463045_976087639107465&siarticle=6#f3dee768675acd6">reuse industrial age buildings</a> and to <a href="https://www.railstotrails.org/trailblog/2017/april/07/pennsylvania-s-three-rivers-heritage-trail/">repurpose railroad corridors</a> as riverfront recreational trails further helped cement Pittsburgh’s new post-industrial identity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172541/original/file-20170606-3662-4jz9iv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of Summerset at Frick Park, a residential area built on an old slag heap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASummerset_at_Frick_Park_aerial_view.jpg">Lyndasw</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The tour in my book takes readers through suburban research campuses, office buildings and residential areas that would not be out of place in other prosperous parts of the nation. Entering the city proper, triumphant symbols of economic and environmental transformation are everywhere; among the examples are <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/life/homes/2015/11/05/Buying-Here-Summerset-townhouse-offers-open-floor-plan-views-of-the-Monongahela-River/stories/201511050150">Summerset at Frick Park</a>, a new urbanist residential area erected on top of a reclaimed slag pile, and the <a href="http://pittsburghpa.gov/dcp/zoning/spds/pittsburgh-technology-center">Pittsburgh Technology Center</a>, built by a public-private consortium on the former site of an enormous riverfront mill. The <a href="http://phlf.org/2008/06/13/hot-metal-bridge-lighted/">Hot Metal Bridge</a>, which once carried molten iron across the Monongahela River, now gives students and workers a healthy and eco-friendly route to walk or bike from the university center of Oakland to the hip neighborhoods of the city’s South Side.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172569/original/file-20170606-3668-1810m2m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From the Hot Metal Bridge pedestrian walkway, the offices of the American Eagle Outfitters clothing chain are visible in the background, part of a mixed-use development built on the site of a former steel mill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHot_Metal_Bridge_pedestrian_walkway_facing_southwest.jpg">Dllu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If the tour was limited to these neighborhoods, the Pittsburgh revitalization might seem an unqualified success.</p>
<h2>Sticking with tradition</h2>
<p>Forty miles upstream, however, my book’s second tour heads to the deindustrialized communities of Charleroi, Monessen and Donora. The population is dwindling, and those who remain <a href="http://triblive.com/news/editorspicks/7470396-74/donora-town-didonato">continue to struggle</a> with high poverty and unemployment rates. Gravel and rock piles and a loading dock on the Monongahela’s western bank share the panorama with the hulking mass of the Speers Railroad Bridge. While a little rusty, this span still carries the <a href="http://www.wlerwy.com/">Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway</a> as it transports freight to and from five different mills and those employees fortunate enough to still work in them.</p>
<p>Many residents came to value the Steel City’s improving rivers, cleaner skies and scenic woodlands. And yet, in 1985, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/08/13/union-leaders-tour-rusted-mon-valley/ce04e5ea-807e-4e34-b1df-5cbf6ed7ec8c/">AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland announced</a>, “Pittsburgh looks beautiful. But I’d like to see it a little dirtier, a little more smoke. The most environmentally offensive thing I see is the shut-down mills.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/172543/original/file-20170606-3698-12yaobx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rusting hulk of the Carrie Furnace, a remnant of an industrial past now being reborn as a museum and mixed-use development site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brookward/33689164662/">brookward/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From this perspective, the post-industrial reinvention of the region offered only low-paid service work or the hazy idea of job retraining. What good were pretty views and playgrounds for white-collar workers without a solution to the loss of unionized, family-wage blue-collar jobs?</p>
<p>As a result, for many people in the region, the real excitement over the past few years has bubbled up from the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2014/article/the-marcellus-shale-gas-boom-in-pennsylvania.htm">new “blue” jobs in oil and gas extraction</a>. The invention of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” <a href="http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/03/the_rise_and_fall_and_rise_of.html">unlocked massive natural gas reserves</a> in the region’s Marcellus and Utica shale formations.</p>
<p>The number of <a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/drilling/">active wells</a> in southwestern Pennsylvania quadrupled from 2008 to 2012. The fracking boom prompted a <a href="http://pittsburghquarterly.com/pq-commerce/pq-energy/item/34-an-industrial-renaissance.html">renaissance of reindustrialization</a> with opportunities for jobs in the energy, chemical and metals sectors. But, a fracking downturn beginning in 2015 caused economic anxieties to rush back to the surface. Many locals worried that their financial recovery was threatened by global economic forces beyond their control or, more sinisterly, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/19/climate-change-is-single-biggest-threat-to-polar-bear-survival">environmental activists</a> accused of <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-environment/312780-polar-bears-over-people-environmentalism-over">favoring polar bears above people</a>.</p>
<p>As president, Obama made multiple trips to the city of Pittsburgh, touting its economic reinvention – including that G-20 conference in 2009. But neither he nor Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign ever found their way to these old bastions of the Democratic Party. Trump did. In June 2016, he arrived in Monessen to acknowledge the “very, very tough times” and assure residents he would “<a href="http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/06/28/trump-policy-speech-monessen/">make it better fast</a>.”</p>
<p>For those left out of the promise of a post-industrial Pittsburgh reborn through environmental stewardship and a high-tech economy, Trump’s simplistic but powerful message of reindustrialization, economic protectionism and environmental deregulation often resonates with their own lives and dreams for the future. That may even have <a href="http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/11/09/westmoreland-countys-turnout-helped-trump-win-pennsylvania/">helped him win Westmoreland County</a>, just east of Pittsburgh. But it remains unclear how the president’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement will actually serve to make their lives materially better. At the least, it reminds those of us who have navigated the winds of economic change successfully of the consequences for ignoring the needs of those struggling to find a safe harbor.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allen Dieterich-Ward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pittsburgh’s post-industrial economic resurgence is promising, a historian of the region writes, but there’s a reason President Trump highlighted the area in his speech exiting the Paris climate deal.Allen Dieterich-Ward, Associate Professor of History, Shippensburg UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/785672017-06-04T12:10:56Z2017-06-04T12:10:56ZAs Trump smacks the climate, world must do better to save planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171812/original/file-20170601-25689-1s4c1c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Donald Trump’s America drops out of the <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php">Paris Agreement</a>, it’s high time to ask whether conventional approaches to sustainable development are enough to deal with the multiple crises facing the world. </p>
<p>A shift to a “green economy” is essential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But more is needed to build truly sustainable economies, which not only curb emissions, but also drastically reduce all the negative impacts on nature and society. </p>
<p>In my new book, <a href="http://panmacmillan.co.za/catalogue/wellbeing-economy/">Wellbeing Economy: Success in a World Without Growth</a>, I argue that the climate crisis should be seen as an opportunity to redirect our development trajectory away from increasing consumerism. We need to shift towards a much more intelligent economy rather than continuous exploitation of humans and nature. </p>
<p>Achieving such a “wellbeing economy” would be the best way to demonstrate how backward and self-defeating Trump’s strategy is. </p>
<h2>Beyond consumerist growth</h2>
<p>Since the 1950s development has been closely associated with continuous economic growth. While this has generated unprecedented consumption in the West and some emerging economies, it has also caused serious concerns among the scientific community and society at large. </p>
<p>In what has been termed <a href="http://www.igbp.net/globalchange/greatacceleration.4.1b8ae20512db692f2a680001630.html">“The Great Acceleration”</a>, skyrocketing consumption has caused a massive increase in polluting emissions. But there is more: water use has multiplied and marine fish capture has grown exponentially, along with ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, depletion of natural resources and soil erosion. </p>
<p>Coupled with climate change, all these processes threaten not only further economic development, but our very existence on this planet. Besides all sorts of environmental problems, such consumption has also caused inequalities, stress, waste and a growing number of social tensions. </p>
<p>The concept of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-decoupling-delusion-rethinking-growth-and-sustainability-71996">“decoupling”</a> aims to address some of these problems. It suggests that the connection between growth and environmental degradation can be delinked by introducing clean technologies and renewable energy sources. </p>
<p>The decoupling promise has been the cornerstone of America’s climate change policy in the past few years. So much so that former US president Barack Obama has presented it as the silver bullet. He published an <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2017/01/06/science.aam6284.full">article</a> in the journal Science arguing that the</p>
<blockquote>
<p>decoupling of energy sector emissions and economic growth should put to rest the argument that combating climate change requires accepting lower growth or a lower standard of living. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Obama is right: fighting climate change need not imply a lower standard of living. There are good reasons to believe that a truly “green” economy, which puts people and planet at the core of development can massively improve our lives. It can deliver better jobs, reduce unnecessary expenses, help small businesses thrive and connect producers and consumers with a view to minimising waste. </p>
<p>But to do this, the world needs more than green technology. It needs to reassess what economic growth really means. </p>
<h2>When growth outpaces efficiency</h2>
<p>It is true that many production processes have become more efficient worldwide. Yet this hasn’t resulted in less overall pollution. This is because growth has outpaced efficiency by orders of magnitude. Most things we produce are now less polluting than before, but we produce many more things overall. </p>
<p>A massive conversion to renewable energies may result in “cleaner” growth. But there is a limit to the use of renewable energy sources too. Indeed, there is a finite surface to capture solar radiation, wind and tidal currents as well as geothermal forces. </p>
<p>There is also a limited amount of rare earths and other minerals, which are indispensable to build the PV panels and wind turbines that produce renewable energy. Moreover, the exploitation of such materials causes additional environmental damage. There is therefore an ultimate ceiling on “green” growth.</p>
<p>The other critical factor is that energy consumption is just one sub-section of the economy’s overall material consumption. The world consumes natural resources for many other things too, like buildings, roads, cars, computers and so on. Besides energy, the list of natural inputs to production is very long – from water to land, timber, iron, phosphates and so on. Once again, these are finite. </p>
<p>Without dismissing the importance of greening technologies, it must be recognised that many industrialised countries have been able to <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/112/20/6271.abstract">reduce their material consumption</a> mostly because production processes have been outsourced to companies operating off-shore. In what looks more like a convenient facelift, the West appears to have shifted the responsibility for its pollution to the so-called developing world, mostly in East Asia, where the bulk of global goods are presently produced. </p>
<p>If such material impacts were charged to the countries where the final consumption takes place, many green economies wouldn’t look so green anymore. </p>
<h2>The need for a different development model</h2>
<p>But let’s imagine that it was possible to achieve a perfect separation between growth and all environmental consequences. This would still leave unaddressed a number of negative social effects that the current model of economic growth causes, from inequality to social stress and overworked people. </p>
<p>Unless the world develops social innovations and new governance models to radically alter how the economy operates, it may end up with traffic jams of electric cars, overworked assembly lines of PV panels and global conflicts to control the uranium fuelling the ever-increasing number of carbon-neutral nuclear plants. </p>
<p>Against this backdrop, the real focus of policy debate should be on the following question: Is the current approach to growth, which we are trying to ‘clean up’ through new technologies, really desirable in the first place? </p>
<p>The Sustainable Development Goals indeed demand change not only on climate policy but on a wide range of ecological and social issues, from inequality to social cohesion, from education to health care, from water to land, from fisheries to food. These are all issues that require a holistic approach. They can’t be fixed one at a time, as they are closely entangled and affect each other. </p>
<h2>The good news</h2>
<p>The good news is that, just as society has made technological advancements on clean energy, it has also developed new tools to build economies that increase human and ecosystem wellbeing while lowering material consumption.<br>
As I show in my book, the world is replete with alternative business practices and socio-political innovations, which can help redesign our economies. They include cooperative banks, crowd-funding schemes and social benefit corporations. </p>
<p>The world is also seeing the emergence of community currencies, that is, forms of money that are controlled by the users themselves, either through local associations or through digital systems like the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/02/cnbc-explains-what-is-blockchain.html">blockchain</a>. And there is the continued rise of distributed renewable energy networks, open-source software and hardware as well as additive technologies (like 3D printing), which are revolutionising manufacturing. </p>
<p>All these processes are redefining the economy from the ground up, strengthening local economic production and supporting local businesses. They are not only creating good jobs, but they are reducing waste and other negative collateral effects by avoiding economies of scale and over production. </p>
<p>A truly green economy is a crucial step forward. But we can do better. Rather than holding on to a model of growth that wants us to maximise consumption at all costs, we need an economy that rewards optimisation. A balanced economy, centred on people and the planet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorenzo Fioramonti does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The climate crisis demands not only green technologies, but a completely different approach to economic development.Lorenzo Fioramonti, Full Professor of Political Economy, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/723162017-03-03T12:22:59Z2017-03-03T12:22:59ZHow too much information can stop people from being sustainable consumers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159272/original/image-20170303-16344-bgm7oi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Information overload?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mjfrig/7049316855/in/photolist-bJVAiM-9FaHPV-wonZf-6kwijQ-4HmyjA-gspo9o-7CUHNe-2oJKtT-Eyu4A-fzSH1f-cnL4ju-9hJfzP-4vuyjn-5PsqKT-5Avoou-8tc6bg-EjPwu-3dXFUc-4QzPTU-a61stE-9suqKt-9V9MHQ-o6rqAc-34R6sX-62Gzs7-5fCWVK-rAfWP-4iXgSq-4zaGQn-91J212-4FiqNN-6Hi7Dr-dRst2P-61ktCa-5kUDJL-6Szn59-4cxS5e-RwNNNg-ScT8hy-ndfar3-qMGury-dMYJAB-qJusLK-7MwH4T-aPQkGk-AJFdR-f6HnMc-J9y6t-8hk4Yi-5XTDea">mjfrig/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most people would agree that living more sustainably is something to strive for. With £13bn worth of food being wasted each year in the UK and global temperature records being broken every three years, being green is more important than ever. But it’s a lot easier said than done.</p>
<p>For the vast majority, trying to live a more sustainable lifestyle is restricted to the weekly recycling of bottles, paper, plastics and food waste. And consuming less also represents a tricky issue for governments when consuming more this year than last year drives economic growth.</p>
<p>An enduring issue remains: what actually is “sustainability” and what does “consuming sustainably” mean in the first place? As David Harvey has pointed out, it can mean almost anything <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWfFdV9Otq0">people want it to mean</a>. </p>
<p>In its simplest form, though, sustainable consumption asks that people consider the impact their choices (when it comes to buying things or using energy) will have on future generations’ ability to make their choices. Sadly, the likelihood of the majority acting in this way is small. Most of their everyday consumption choices are made habitually or emotionally and not rationally. As Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman noted, people are prone to think fast, driven by our habits and intuitions – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/dec/13/thinking-fast-slow-daniel-kahneman">and not slowly or thoughtfully</a>. </p>
<h2>Information overload</h2>
<p>So: how can governments, NGOs – even <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-patagonias-business-model-is-a-paragon-of-virtue-should-more-companies-follow-suit-66188">businesses</a> themselves – encourage people to consume in a more sustainable manner? Currently, the dominant logic is to provide people with more information so they can make more informed decisions about what they spend their money on. </p>
<p>While this may succeed for a minority, in this view information is assumed to be a precursor to changing people’s attitudes and – in due course – their behaviour. The problem is that there is little evidence that information provision does this at all.</p>
<p>It’s also problematic, as people suffer from information overload. Too much information can cause confusion and, if it’s not relevant to them, people will simply ignore it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159273/original/image-20170303-16378-1uyk5yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s not easy being green.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, even people who’ve taken on board the sustainability message find difficulty in practising it. This finding emerged from data collected by one of our former PhD students Cristina Longo (now a researcher at the University of Lille’s business school). To understand the trials and tribulations of trying to live more sustainably, Longo conducted an ethnographic study and embedded herself in the local <a href="https://transitionnetwork.org">Transition Network community</a>, a movement that promotes sustainable living. </p>
<p>She spent two years hanging out with people already highly knowledgeable and committed to living a sustainable lifestyle. She attended talks and meetings, and participated in <a href="http://www.guerrillagardening.org/">guerrilla gardening</a>, taking care of neglected public spaces, before interviewing members of the community.</p>
<p>Our <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-016-3422-1">analysis</a> of these interviews highlighted some major problems when it comes to living out sustainable values – even when you’ve got the best intentions. The paradox of sustainable consumption appears to be that the more you are aware of the issues at stake, the harder you find it to actually live out your values. </p>
<h2>Dilemma, tension, paralysis</h2>
<p>The more knowledgeable people become with regard to the myriad issues surrounding sustainability, the more this knowledge becomes a source of dilemma. For example, Tessa, a member of the Transition Network with a longstanding interest and understanding of sustainability issues, told us of her “green beans from Kenya dilemma”. For her, green beans from Kenya were definitely a no-no, because of the food miles incurred in flying the beans over. However, she found the clarity she had on this position was undermined when she learned of the social and economic benefits of growing green beans for the local Kenyan farmers.</p>
<p>Also, for those already committed to sustainability ideals, not being able to live up to them becomes a source of considerable tension. Veronica, for example, recounted a story about a talk she’d given on reducing carbon footprints. Afterwards, she drove past a family who’d been at the meeting, who were cycling. Being confronted with not practising what she was preaching was very disconcerting for her. Irene, too, wants to eat locally sourced organic food whenever possible, but on her limited budget finds it expensive to do so. This existential tension that both Veronica and Irene experience is in large part self-inflicted.</p>
<p>We’ve found that the more knowledgeable people become, the more it can result in paralysis or the inability to act on one’s sustainability ideals or goals. One informant Kate described a knowledge tipping point. As she accumulated more and more knowledge that she attempted to put into practice, she also experienced an awareness that her efforts would ultimately be unsustainable. Judith experienced something similar too but saw her failure – in her case to not buy anything shipped over from China – as part of an overall learning process.</p>
<p>Clearly, being a sustainable consumer is problematic and embedding sustainable ideals into everyday life is fraught with difficulties. Until society’s <a href="http://clivehamilton.com/books/growth-fetish/">obsession with growth</a> is addressed at a much wider level, sustainable consumption remains a fantasy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72316/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Information is assumed to be key to changing people’s attitudes and behaviour. Sadly this isn’t the case.Peter Nuttall, Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of BathAvi Shankar, Professor of Consumer Research, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/666272016-12-09T02:07:41Z2016-12-09T02:07:41ZHow the Fed joined the fight against climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149284/original/image-20161208-31396-14uj5ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Fed's low-interest rate garden.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Money shoots via www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Federal Reserve’s policy committee <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/12/05/federal-reserve-interest-rates-6/">is expected</a> to lift its target interest rate a quarter-point – to a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent – at <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm">its final meeting of 2016</a>. </p>
<p>The main reasons the Fed has kept rates near zero for eight years have been to restore economic growth and lower unemployment – goals that have been largely achieved. But doing so has had an important, if little noticed – and probably unintended – side effect: It has been promoting efforts to curb global warming. </p>
<p>That is, the ultra-low interest rates have favored sustainable projects like <a href="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/10/cost-reductions-for-offshore-wind-signs-of-progress-expectations-for-more.html">wind farms</a> and <a href="http://www.seia.org/news/new-report-names-target-top-corporate-solar-installer-us">corporate solar installations</a>, the kind that are necessary if the world is to transition to a low-carbon future in line with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/paris-agreement-23382">Paris climate accord</a>. At the same time, they have discouraged unsustainable, high-carbon projects like coal power plants that appear cheap but become unprofitable over time when you factor in the cost of carbon.</p>
<p>Government policy, without help from the Fed, could nudge businesses and consumers to reduce carbon emissions. But, as <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2881467">my research shows</a>, governments walk a fine line when setting carbon policies. They may fail to adequately address climate risks with policies that are too lenient or come too late or they may create systemic instability and financial crises with policies that are too harsh or aggressive. </p>
<p>So one way to reduce these risks is for the business sector to voluntarily and swiftly proceed with the transition to a low-carbon, “green” economy. And thanks to the Fed, the low-interest rate environment is supporting just that.</p>
<h2>Opportunity costs</h2>
<p>Under the Paris Agreement, more than 190 countries agreed <a href="http://www.c2es.org/docUploads/paris-q-a-fact-sheet-10-16.pdf">to limit the global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius</a>. </p>
<p>Just last month, the agreement <a href="http://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12-04/worlds-nations-vow-move-forward-paris-agreement-or-without-us-president-elect">entered into force</a> after countries representing <a href="http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9444.php">55 percent of global emissions ratified it</a>. </p>
<p>But the accord doesn’t actually force countries to do anything to live up to their pledges, and many companies have long been resistant to the kinds of policies, like carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems, that would achieve those aims. Furthermore, U.S. President-elect <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/02/trump-break-from-paris-climate-deal-unfccc-exit">Donald Trump has vowed</a> to exit the accord. </p>
<p>So how can we reach those goals? </p>
<p><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2881467">My own research</a> suggests one way to get there is through the widespread adoption of capital budgeting techniques – the process of determining the viability of long-term investments – that take into account the opportunity costs of both financial capital and <a href="https://www.cdp.net/en/campaigns/commit-to-action/price-on-carbon">carbon dioxide</a>. </p>
<p>The opportunity cost of financial capital is simply the rate of return the company could have earned on its next best investment alternative. If a project cannot return at least that, it should not be funded. </p>
<p>On the other hand, atmospheric capital, as measured by carbon dioxide emissions, is not privately owned, making its opportunity cost much harder to measure. This cost includes the benefits we forgo when emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, such as more stable agricultural yields, reduced losses from less violent weather, greater biodiversity, etc. If a project cannot generate a return on carbon that is at least commensurate with the benefits we give up as a result of the project’s carbon emissions, the project should be rejected. </p>
<p>Estimates of the social cost of carbon for the next 35 years have been produced by <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/inforeg/scc-tsd-final-july-2015.pdf">the U.S. Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon</a> and other organizations, such as <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/2015/01/12/emissions-social-costs-011215/">Stanford University</a>. Estimates from these two sources range from approximately US$37 to about $220 per ton of carbon dioxide, while many companies report <a href="https://www.oceanfdn.org/sites/default/files/CDP%20Carbon%20Pricing%20in%20the%20corporate%20world.compressed.pdf">internal carbon prices</a> at or below the lower end of this range.</p>
<p>Historically, companies creating these costs haven’t borne the brunt of it, but that is changing as <a href="http://www.carbonpricingleadership.org/who/">countries, states, provinces and cities</a> are imposing or planning to impose various carbon pricing mechanisms. Examples include China, the European Union, California, Canada and <a href="https://www.rggi.org/">U.S. states in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic region</a>.</p>
<p>Since the planning horizon for long-term capital budgeting projects like power plants and <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781137411983">solar installations often extends out 10 to 20 years</a> or more, that carbon cost is likely to grow quite a bit, and more of it will be billed to the companies doing the polluting, meaning carbon-intensive projects will become increasingly expensive. </p>
<p>While the Fed does not influence the opportunity cost of carbon – and whether companies account for it – it does influence the opportunity cost of financial capital. Specifically, the Fed influences the time value of money by setting interest rates.</p>
<h2>Patient investors</h2>
<p>The time value of money is the compensation borrowers pay investors for their patience. </p>
<p>If the interest rate is high, people are very impatient and prefer cash flows now, perhaps leading them to prefer to invest in a polluting power plant that pays out right away rather than an expensive windmill farm. If the interest rate is very low, on the other hand, people have easy access to funding and can wait a long time for cash flows that come much later. That makes longer-term, riskier projects like that windmill farm more attractive because their value will grow as governments punish carbon emitters – and investors will be rewarded for their patience. </p>
<p>It is the Fed’s manipulation of the time value of money that affects the choice of high-carbon versus low-carbon projects, especially when an expected rising opportunity cost of carbon is included in the analysis. So with rates <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS">hovering at unprecedented lows</a> for nearly a decade, today’s investors can afford to be patient. </p>
<p>Investments in the green economy that initially may seem expensive but pay off over the long term are favorably viewed when rates are low because positive cash flows in the more distant future are barely discounted. That is, their present value equivalents (the current worth of a future sum of money) are almost the same as the future amounts because so little interest would be earned were they invested elsewhere. That means the positive future cash flows are more likely to outweigh the initial costs of green projects.</p>
<p>In fact, there has been a <a href="http://www.bcse.org/sustainableenergyfactbook/#">solid 57 percent increase</a> in renewable energy capacity in the U.S. since 2008, while dirtier power sources – though still dominant – have waned. </p>
<p>Coal, for example, <a href="http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/66591.pdf">made up 21.5 percent</a> of energy production in 2015, down from 34 percent in 2008. Renewables, meanwhile, climbed to 11.5 percent from 10.2 percent in the same period. Actual consumption tells a similar story, with coal-making up 16 percent of all energy consumed in 2015, compared with 22.6 percent in 2008. Consumption of renewable energy climbed to 9.8 percent from 7.3 percent. </p>
<p>The expansion of the renewable energy sector was driven by a number of factors including cost reductions associated with technological improvements as well as policy support in the form of tax breaks, but the low-interest rate environment undoubtedly contributed to the acceleration of the low-carbon transition.</p>
<h2>Will the music stop?</h2>
<p>The Fed has been able to keep the time value of money at record low levels for so long <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/03/16/470698819/federal-reserve-decides-to-keep-interest-rates-low-a-while-longer">thanks to persistently low inflation</a>. If inflation begins to accelerate as economic growth increases, the Fed no longer has that ability, and the upcoming rate rise will be just the beginning. That will begin to shift the valuations of high- and low-carbon projects, making the former a bit more attractive, the latter a bit less so.</p>
<p>But a quarter-point increase won’t change valuations much. For now, the low interest rates will continue to favor long-term sustainable projects that will help us reach the Paris targets, while discouraging unsustainable ones that become unprofitable once budgeting analyses consider the likely future implementation of carbon taxes and new emissions regulations. </p>
<p>If we do reach those targets, we would have the Fed and the markets to thank – and not Congress or Trump – for a successful transition to a low-carbon economy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carolin Schellhorn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ultra-low interest rates have made low-carbon projects like windmill farms more attractive than coal power plants. That will begin to change as the central bank lifts rates, hurting the green economy.Carolin Schellhorn, Assistant Professor of Finance, St. Joseph's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/575062016-04-11T15:11:46Z2016-04-11T15:11:46ZNine ways steel could build a greener economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118160/original/image-20160411-21986-1gfydsw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shestakov Dmytro / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Steel might be the largest <a href="https://www.oecd.org/sti/ind/45010081.pdf">industrial carbon dioxide emitter</a>, but Britain’s troubled industry could be a big part of a cleaner, greener future.</p>
<p>By using steel to build new infrastructure for renewable energy, the UK could create a virtuous circle of improvement for its industry and growth.</p>
<p>Ignore calls to subsidise additional supply in a market where there is already too much steel to go round. Britain instead needs a <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-government-is-serious-about-reviving-british-industry-heres-what-needs-to-be-done-42019">proactive industrial strategy</a> to stimulate demand for its steel, and one that has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/apr/07/tata-steel-port-talbot-build-uk-wind-turbines-green-economy">sustainability at its heart</a>.</p>
<p>Here are nine ways steel could be used in a clean industrial transformation:</p>
<h2>1. Build an enormous tidal power station</h2>
<p>This is the <a href="http://www.clickonwales.org/2016/04/beyond-the-drawing-board/">long-mooted plan</a> to build an enormous tidal power station across the Severn Estuary. Around 1.5m tonnes of steel would be required for turbines, embankments and to <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544212004033">reinforce the concrete</a> – a good chunk of the UK’s current annual output of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/02/port-talbot-struggles-see-life-beyond-steel-tata">10m tonnes</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118162/original/image-20160411-21972-189pury.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first of many Severn Barrage proposals. More modern designs are based on steel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ThomasFulljamesSevernBarrage01.jpg">Thomas Fulljames (1849)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Make more wind turbines</h2>
<p>Anchoring wind turbines to the ground or seabed requires vast amounts of concrete reinforced with steel. Onshore wind uses an average of 160 tonnes of steel per megawatt, according to one <a href="https://www.worldsteel.org/dms/internetDocumentList/bookshop/Sustainable-steel-at-the-core-of-a-green-economy/document/Sustainable-steel-at-the-core-of-a-green-economy.pdf">2011 estimate</a>, while offshore the figure rises to 450 tonnes. </p>
<p>Although <a href="http://fhr.nuc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/05-001-A_Material_input.pdf">fossil fuel and nuclear power station</a> require much less, they still rely on other finite resources. If the UK is serious about exploiting its <a href="http://publicinterest.org.uk/offshore/">fantastic wind resources</a> it will need a lot of steel for the domestic market, with a view to eventually exporting turbine technology to other nations.</p>
<h2>3. Expand high speed rail</h2>
<p>Better rail links would mean people taking trains instead of cars or carbon-intensive domestic flights. But, again, this will require lots of steel.</p>
<p>Every kilometre of new high speed railway requires <a href="http://www.networkrail.co.uk/5878_Comparingenvironmentalimpactofconventionalandhighspeedrail.pdf">282 tonnes of steel</a> for the rails themselves. <a href="http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Planning-and-Building-Control/Planning/nr_a_guide_to_overhead_electrification.pdf">Overhead line equipment</a> – the masts, gantries and overhead wires – add a further <a href="http://www.networkrail.co.uk/5878_Comparingenvironmentalimpactofconventionalandhighspeedrail.pdf">500 tonnes per km</a>, and tunnels and bridges also need reinforcing. Conventional electrified rail will also require new rolling stock – an average train is around <a href="http://www.networkrail.co.uk/5878_Comparingenvironmentalimpactofconventionalandhighspeedrail.pdf">57% steel, or 27 tonnes</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=281&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118176/original/image-20160411-21989-mib6md.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=353&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Steel everywhere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattbuck007/3687049201/">Matt Buck</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are proposals for an <a href="http://www.railmagazine.com/infrastructure/new-railways/hs2/now-we-need-hs2-hs3-and-hs4">HS3 line to Newcastle</a> along with an <a href="http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Opinion-South-West-needs-HS4-Peter-Musgrove/story-26005474-detail/story.html">HS4 to connect Bristol and the West Country with London</a>. A Severn Barrage could also create a new transport corridor into Wales as Brunel’s tunnel is already at capacity. These hundreds of kilometres of new line could transform regional economies, rebalance the UK – and boost demand for steel.</p>
<h2>4. Turn steel into solar panels</h2>
<p>Steel can be “sprayed” with <a href="http://www.steelpv.eu/">photovoltaic material</a> to create roofs and facades that can harvest solar energy. Researchers are evaluating thin film silicon, chalcopyrite and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trillions-of-tiny-solar-panels-could-power-the-internet-of-things-50023">organic solar</a> to find the best solution.</p>
<p>It won’t overtake regular solar panels just yet but, given roofs cover <a href="http://ukerc.rl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ercri7.pl?GChoose=gecatsum&GRN=EP/I019278/1&GSumCat=03-01-02&GCatSum=4&HTC=1B1FABE1&SHTC=768B4EB&SSHTC=64164CB&SSSHTC=39515B">1.8% of the UK’s land</a>, the potential is enormous.</p>
<h2>5. Heat your home – directly</h2>
<p>Academics at <a href="http://sbed.cardiff.ac.uk/transpired-solar-collectors/">Cardiff University</a> have been working on a neat way to keep your home warm, using profiled perforated steel mounted on the south-facing walls of buildings. It is specially-treated to absorb as much solar energy as possible. The sun creates a warm boundary layer of air around the steel sheet, which a fan then distributes through the building.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=305&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118171/original/image-20160411-21959-1fp9uqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These heating systems are known as Transpired Solar Collectors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://sbed.cardiff.ac.uk/transpired-solar-collectors/">Cardiff Uni / SBED</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>6. Build big solar farms</h2>
<p>Large-scale solar plants can also use <a href="http://www.solarsteel.co.uk/">mounting systems made from steel</a>. Government subsidy cuts have caused the UK solar industry to <a href="http://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/news/feed_in_tariff_solar_deployment_continues_to_falter_under_new_rates_1404">falter</a>, but past performance has shown its potential. </p>
<h2>7. Next generation pylons</h2>
<p>The pylons familiar to most British people were <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/13/electricity-pylons-britain-duller-place-national-grid-t-pylon-design">designed in 1928</a>. Demand from electric vehicles will soon grow massively, heating is becoming electric rather than gas-powered, and small-scale wind and solar generation all needs to be linked up.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118174/original/image-20160411-21965-15iqra8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Upgrade needed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/karen_roe/4457531355/">Karen Roe</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This new electricity infrastructure will require new plyons, which may be welcome news for the <a href="http://www.pylons.org/">Pylon Appreciation Society</a>. In Iceland, pylons have been elevated to an art form that <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3248509/Not-blot-landscape-Icelandic-architects-create-series-designs-statue-like-electricity-pylons-shaped-like-humans.html">adds to the landscape</a>.</p>
<h2>8. Lightweight futuristic electric cars</h2>
<p>Tesla has gone back to steel for its latest car, the Model 3. After initially using composites, the company said the <a href="http://www.thecountrycaller.com/87813-tesla-tsla-model-3-balances-steel-use-by-cutting-weight-global-equities/">cost and mass production advantages</a> of steel were too strong to ignore. </p>
<p>Yet steel doesn’t have to mean bulky and inefficient. The <a href="https://www.worldsteel.org/dms/internetDocumentList/bookshop/Sustainable-steel-at-the-core-of-a-green-economy/document/Sustainable-steel-at-the-core-of-a-green-economy.pdf">Future Steel Vehicle</a> concept achieves body mass savings of 35% compared to standard vehicles, and shows weight reduction is possible without ditching steel. </p>
<h2>9. Steel plants can keep us warm</h2>
<p>The huge furnaces found at steel plants could be connected to local heating networks. At present, steel producers consider all that heat a costly byproduct. They even have to cool the water used in the manufacturing process between each use, which requires lots of energy. However, in harnessing the waste heat and selling it to consumers, they could even turn a profit.</p>
<p>Such a scheme already exists in <a href="https://www.theengineer.co.uk/excess-heat-from-steel-plants-could-be-used-to-heat-sheffield/">Sheffield</a> and could be extended to other steel towns such as Scunthorpe or Port Talbot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin D. J. Harper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The industry itself is a big polluter, but lots of environmentally important technologies depend on steel.Gavin D. J. Harper, Visiting Researcher, Centre for Solar Energy Research at Glyndwr University, and Energy Development Manager, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.